


The Native Heartbeats Quadrilogy

by Kazroo



Series: Mind and Heart; Body and Soul [5]
Category: Tarzan (TV 2003)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 10:13:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 53,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3443408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kazroo/pseuds/Kazroo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The final four sections of the Mind and Heart; Body and Soul series wrap up the past present and future of the Clayton clan, and those they hold dear.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. What was lost...

**Author's Note:**

> The final four sections of the Mind and Heart; Body and Soul series wrap up the past present and future of the Clayton clan, and those they hold dear.

Mind and Heart; Body and Soul

Parts 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Native Heartbeat Quadrilogy

Part 12

"What was lost…"

 

Kathleen was released from the hospital, but it took weeks of physical therapy before she was feeling strong again. John had been her rock. Whatever she needed, John would make sure it was done. That level of attentive care took up much of his time. Jane saw little of John during this time. It was OK with Jane. She had plenty of catch-up to do at work, and Sam was happy to have Jane back, her concentration intact.

 

"Hey, partner, how are those Claytons doin'?"

 

"Kathleen is almost done with her therapy - largely in part to John, and John has been occupied with Kathleen's recovery."

 

"He's keepin' out of trouble, then."

 

"Yes he is," Jane said, smiling with relief.

 

"You don't miss him being glued to your hip?"

 

"I never said that," she coyly uttered, shifting her eyes up to catch Sam's.

 

"TMI - T -M -I."

 

"You asked."

 

~~~~~

 

In Clayton Manor, Kathleen walked into the atrium, her midsection held tightly in a support belt, making her movements stiff, stilted. John came down to the floor.

 

"Are you ready?" he asked.

 

"I hope so," she said, releasing her support belt.

 

John climbed to a low perch and leaned back to take hold of Kathleen's hands. As he led her arms up, Kathleen found footholds and ascended. She gritted her teeth some, but made it up to the perch.

 

"You have done well - you will improve."

 

"John, I don't know about this."

 

"The doctor said you are healed - but need to strengthen - this will help."

 

John stepped off the edge of this perch; his feet comfortable as each was supported by a taught rope. He stepped back, foot after foot until there was a space for Kathleen to step off. With one hand she gripped John's hand, and the other clung quickly to the rope overhead. John led her across the top of the atrium. It took all Kathleen's core muscles to stay balanced and upright.

 

John could see how hard Kathleen was breathing. Once she was safely off the ropes, Kathleen slid down the wall until she was a ball on this ledge. She ached almost as bad as the day she was shot.

 

"Next time, we go back too."

 

"Not."

 

"You will be strong enough, after you rest."

 

"John, even a week of rest won't make me strong enough to cross that twice in a row."

 

John laughed heartily.

 

~~~~~

 

Kathleen got back into her business attire after cleaning up. John had put her through her paces, but it would be good for her. Yes, she was healed, but those muscles needed to be stronger. Who knew when Richard's next scheme would rear its ugly head?

 

Kathleen had taken her break to sort the mail and she was in the front hall when the doorbell rang.

 

"Jane, Sam - is this official business?"

 

"Yeah," Jane answered, "How'd you…?"

 

"You look like thunder."

 

"Yeah, well, on the inside, we're doin' the happy dance," Sam said.

 

Kathleen raised an eyebrow.

 

"Richard has disappeared. They found his car at the train station."

 

"I knew something was going on with him."

 

John showed up behind Jane from nowhere, and took her into his arms. He leaned in and purred into Jane's ear. She smiled and laughed.

 

"Geez, John, you could warn a guy," Sam puffed.

 

"Sorry," John replied, smiling.

 

"John," Kathleen caught his attention with.

 

"Richard has disappeared."

 

"Good."

 

"I'm not sure it is. His behavior has been increasingly erratic these last few weeks. Richard is not the type to walk away from his life."

 

"The police are looking into it," Sam added.

 

"Aunt Kathleen, do you wish me to track Richard?"

 

"No, I think he'll turn up. Thanks for letting me know. Will you be staying for a while?"

 

"No, we have to get back to the station," Sam answered.

 

"You have to let go now, John," Jane said, squirming to free herself from his arms.

 

"But I like holding you."

 

"I like it too, but I'm on duty."

 

"It has been many days since we-"

 

Jane stopped him from continuing that thought by turning her head and kissing him. John fell into the kiss, but he only tightened his grip.

 

"John, I'm done with work at 4:30 today. The window will be unlocked."

 

"Will you two cut that out? Jane, we gotta go, throw a bucket of water over the wild boy, and get a room later."

 

A passionate, but quick, kiss connected them briefly, and Jane was away, catching up with Sam before he drove off without her.

 

~~~~~

 

Jane heard the door slam, and footsteps cross the apartment floor.

 

"Nicky, where have you been? Your classes were over hours ago."

 

"Calm down."

 

"Nicky, I was about to send out a search party. Why are you late?"

 

"Jane, if you will remember, I told you I was signing up to give tours to incoming students. Today was the first tour I gave."

 

"Oh," Jane said, finally calming a bit.

 

Nicky checked her watch and began walking to her room.

 

"I gotta get ready. I've got a date tonight."

 

"What? Who with?"

 

"The guy I gave the tour to. It's just a movie at the student union, geeze. Are you always going to be this protective?"

 

"Geeze, I don't know, is Richard Clayton still trying to do everything he can to hurt us?"

 

"We haven't heard from him since he told you he saved you and Kathleen from that shooter - maybe he's changed."

 

"You don't believe that any more than I do," Jane yelled after her, thinking about the news she had delivered to Kathleen that morning.

 

Nicky went to her room and changed. Jane was relieved when she re-emerged from her room in black jeans and a turquoise tee shirt and a pair of sturdy shoes - at least she was covered, and not going to be caught with one broken heel somewhere unfamiliar with someone she barely knew.

 

"You'll be careful?"

 

"Jane, he's in town with his dad, they are looking at the college. I spent most of the afternoon with both of them. When we walked around the student union, they saw the poster for the movie, and his father suggested we see it together."

 

"OK, OK. Have fun, be careful, and come home safe."

 

Nicky just smiled and slipped from the apartment. Jane paced about, checked her watch against all the clocks in the house.

 

'Dammit, John, I thought you were coming to see me," Jane said in her empty apartment.

 

"Where are you?"

 

~~~~~

 

Nicky and Damon said goodnight on the sidewalk and Nicky headed upstairs to a waiting Jane.

 

"So, how was the movie?"

 

"Fine. I just wish the university would invest in a THX system for the theater in the Student Union. The sound was awful - half the time you couldn't hear what they were saying."

 

"Which movie was it?"

 

"Jane."

 

"What?"

 

"I know that look, and I know that tone. It was innocent. Damon didn't try to make a move on me. He's very sweet, and he has the cutest accent - all oots and aboots."

 

"Canadian?"

 

"Yeah. Early years in Toronto, later he was closer to Ottawa."

 

"You never did say what the movie was."

 

"It was 'Last of the Mohicans'."

 

"Ooh, Daniel Day-Lewis at his finest."

 

"That may be, but Eric Schweig stole the show."

 

"Which one was he?"

 

"He played Uncas. Don't you remember? Geeze, Jane, we aren't that far away from Uncasville - the town named for him.

 

Jane was running the movie through her head.

 

"He's the one Cora's sister falls for - literally. She jumps off the cliff after him. Damon thinks I look like her - the sister."

 

"Oh, really…Yeah, I think I remember now. Since when is he your type?"

 

"Since always. Tall, dark and handsome - he fits all three."

 

"Why didn't I know that? Nicky?"

 

Nicky smirked, twirling away from Jane, and danced away to her room.

 

Moments later, John arrived at the window in Jane's room. Jane heard him, and went to him so they could speak privately. He had seemed so eager to see her earlier. Just what had kept him away?

 

"I thought you were going to drop by earlier. I had the whole place to myself, and nobody to take advantage of it with."

 

John gave Jane a lingering kiss.

 

"I was here."

 

Jane raised an eyebrow.

 

"I went to keep Nicky safe."

 

"You followed her?"

 

John nodded.

 

"You were worried - I made sure she came back safe."

 

"John," the disappointed tone from Jane was obvious. She sat on the edge of her bed.

 

"What is wrong?"

 

"Nicky will be angry if she thinks I sent you out to watch her."

 

"But you did not send me, I went."

 

"I know, but Nicky is feeling over protected and I want her to know I trust her."

 

John sat next to Jane on her bed, and copied Jane's expression. He was sad about making Jane upset about how Nicky would feel about not being trusted if she knew he had followed her. Jane turned to look at John and saw the pouty lip, and downcast eyes. It made her smile.

 

"What did you find out?" Jane asked.

 

"He is staying in an off-campus hotel with an older man."

 

"Nothing looked…off?"

 

"No, but something is familiar about his smell."

 

"Good or bad?"

 

"Good, I think."

 

"I hope so. I don't want anyone going after us through Nicky."

 

"I will make sure. I will protect my family."

 

"John?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"Don't let her see you."

 

John smiled, and Jane pulled him down on top of her.

 

"Better late than never," Jane laughed as John began caressing Jane all over with both hands and lips.

 

~~~~~

 

John was up early. He kissed Jane awake.

 

"Better than an alarm clock," she said, pulling him back for another kiss.

 

"I must get back to Kathleen. She will try to avoid her strengthening if I am not there on time."

 

"See you tonight?"

 

"Yes."

 

John headed to the window, but Jane got up quickly and loudly said, "Wait."

 

John turned back to her and she lunged at him. She pulled him against her to the wall and gave him a knee-weakening kiss.

 

"Keep that in mind for tonight," she said, releasing him.

 

He growled amorously at her, and leapt out the window.

 

~~~~~

 

Since John was spending so many hours in the house to keep an eye on Kathleen, he had become aware of the daily rhythms of the household. Every morning at about 10:30, Kathleen would take a break from business to check the incoming mail for the day. She would calmly leaf through the envelopes - dispassionately separating personal from business and taking the business correspondence back to her office. It was a well-established routine.

 

John liked to watch this, try to read Kathleen's expressions to see how she was feeling about what she was reading. He could tell good news from bad news, hot story leads and things that would soon be dropped into the metal cylinder below Kathleen's desk. Her face was easy to read when she was in this unguarded state.

 

Today she began this ritual sorting, and came to a dead stop halfway through. Her face took on an unknown expression. John looked at the envelope before Kathleen snatched it up, and took off.

 

"Kathleen?" John asked as she disappeared up the stairs.

 

She didn't stop. She didn't return to her office. She went straight to her bedroom and locked the door. John was concerned. He asked Mary to call Jane for him.

 

"What should I tell her, Mr. Clayton?"

 

"Tell her something has upset Kathleen, and I am worried for her."

 

Mary did as requested, and Jane came as soon as she could - Sam covered for her, telling anyone who asked that Jane had a family emergency, hoping to hell that Nicky didn't choose to drop in on her sister today and blow Jane's cover. John paced the front hall, and lunged at the door the moment Jane's steps were heard outside.

 

"Jane!!"

 

"Hi, John, what's happened?"

 

"Kathleen was sorting her letters. She read one and locked herself in her room. What is 'adoption'?"

 

"Adoption?"

 

"Yes, it was part of the words written on the envelope she took to her room."

 

"Oh. Well, John, when a child does not have parents, another set of parents 'adopts' or takes the child into their family."

 

"Like the apes did for me?"

 

"Yes, just like that, but here there are legal procedures that one must follow."

 

"Rules?"

 

Jane nodded.

 

"Kathleen would not talk to me."

 

"You want me to try."

 

"Yes."

 

"OK - will you wait for me in the atrium?"

 

John kissed Jane on the cheek, and charged off to his trees. Jane walked far more slowly on her way to Kathleen's room. Why would she be getting an envelope with "adoption" on it? Was she thinking of adopting John? Did she want to start a family because of the nurturing side John had connected with? What was going on?

 

Jane tentatively knocked.

 

"Kathleen, it's Jane. Will you let me in? Please, John is very worried, and so am I."

 

The lock clicked open and the knob turned, leaving the door open a crack. As Jane entered, Kathleen was walking back to her bed. She curled up on it, and hugged a pillow.

 

"May I join you?"

 

"Pull up a pillow."

 

Jane carefully kneeled on Kathleen's puffy king size, pulled a small pillow into her lap, and fondled it nervously.

 

"Um…ah…John saw the word 'adoption' on the envelope you came up here with. Are you thinking about becoming John's legal guardian?"

 

There was a long silence.

 

"I..I don't want to pry…but"

 

Kathleen pulled the letter from beneath her pillow, and handed it to Jane. Jane began reading…"Dear Ms. Clayton, we have recently been contacted by the child you gave up for adoption in 1986. He has expressed an interest in meeting you now that he has reached his 18th birthday…"

 

"Oh my god, Kathleen."

 

Kathleen's eyes looked liquid and held an indefinable blend of pain and something unnamable.

 

"Do you…want to talk about it?"

 

Kathleen rolled onto her back, the pillow now held on top of her. After a few deep breaths, Kathleen found her voice.

 

"When my brother and his family disappeared, I held out hope for a long time that they would come home. Richard went off time after time to find them, but he wouldn't let me go. He insisted that I stay in school, keep to a 'normal' life. There was nothing normal about those years. I was going through the motions. My friends all fell away. I was alone in this big house most of the time. I was hollow - emotionally empty. Nothing touched me."

 

Jane reached out to touch Kathleen's hand, their eyes met, but Kathleen looked away before she continued.

 

"I was nearly a recluse. I didn't want to go out; I didn't want to get on with my life. On one of the rare occasions that Richard came home, he saw how withdrawn I had become. I was ghostly pale, frighteningly thin. It was summer, and he forced me to go to camp. It was a therapy camp - all activities used to evaluate my state of mind. It was in upstate - near the Adirondacks. I was outside, but still spent most of my free time alone."

 

In the atrium, John grew restless. He went out the window and worked his way around the building until he was at Kathleen's window. He sat and listened, out of sight.

 

"They took us on a fieldtrip to an Indian Reservation that was a few miles away. I slipped away from the tour group - I wanted to see what wasn't on the menu. Everywhere I went I was greeted warmly. They were all so open, so connected to each other and to that place. It was the opposite everything my life had been. I walked until I found myself at the shores of a slower flowing arm of the St. Lawrence River. I stood looking at my reflection. I started skipping stones across the surface of it. I watched as it warped my image, the ripples seemingly pulling me apart. It was exactly how I felt. From behind me a voice said, 'You should not treat your image so.'

 

'Why,' I asked him.

 

'Because the spirits would not like to see you only in pieces when your solid image is so pleasing.'

 

I turned and looked into the most beautiful grey eyes. As I examined this stranger, I felt something unfamiliar - my heart beating. That hollow within me was being filled."

 

The Rescue - Sam Harris

 

You've been caught in a storm

You've been battered and torn

You're survival will mean your revival

 

And when I saw your flag

It was only just a rag

And the boat that you were sailing on was leaving

 

It's a cold, bitter tide

It's stolen your pride

You're the daughter of island waters

 

And when I took your hand

You were a thousand miles from land

And the world that you were living in was sinking

 

Oh, whoa, oh god, you've been down so long

The current pulls so strong

This life that you've been leading

 

Oh, please, take this love from me

It's stronger than the sea

This love that you've been needing

Have I reached your heart in time to stop the bleeding

 

Time has lead you away

From the bright side of day

Death defy though your life is hollow

 

Say goodbye to the sea

Share this love inside of me

And the warmth that it will bring will last forever

 

Oh, whoa, whoa, oh god, you've been down so long

The current pulls so strong

This life that you've been leading

 

Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, please, take this love from me

It's stronger than the sea

This love that you've been needing

Have I reached your heart in time to stop the bleeding

Have I reached your heart in time to stop the bleeding

 

"For the rest of the summer, he would visit me. We'd lie on the ground looking into the sky, and talk. He got me to talk about things I had sworn I would take with me. We were such opposites. He had beautifully bronzed skin, and an understanding of the natural world. I was drawn by his calm, spiritual nature. There was nothing about him he would not talk about, would not share."

 

"You fell in love," Jane said, knowing her description, because she could easily put herself into that picture with John.

 

"Eventually. Right then, it wasn't love yet. We were getting to know each other. It was an intellectual and emotional relationship, until the last night of camp. Just hours before I was to get on the bus home, he came to my cabin. We snuck out and stayed together until dawn. As the first ray of sun licked the sky, he presented me with a necklace - a simple leather thong with a polished quartz rock on it. The stone matched his eyes, and I told him that. He smiled at my observation, and gave me a quick kiss. I just stood there, admiring him, wondering if I'd ever see him after that day."

 

Kathleen slipped upward, now moving into a seated position. Jane leaned to one side, no longer up on her knees. She was glad Kathleen moved, allowing her to move, because her lower legs were going numb.

 

"When I got back home, Richard was so pleased to see how much better I looked. He patted himself on the back for sending me to the camp, thinking that was the reason I was better."

 

"But it was because of this boy. What was his name?" Jane asked.

 

"Which one?"

 

"He had more than one name?"

 

From outside the window, John thought, "just like me."

 

"His common name was Craig. The elders bestowed him with the name 'Runs with Thunder'. I remember that because he told me that his grandfather used to call him 'Runs with Scissors' because of his dangerous, reckless choices as a child."

 

Jane smiled, and the two women shared a mild laugh.

 

"We wrote to each other - sometimes 3 letters a week. Each word brought us closer. Then the letters stopped. For almost a week I heard nothing from him. I got worried, but there was nothing I could do. I was being monitored. I'm lucky Richard didn't censor Craig's letters. He thought they were from someone at the camp, so he never looked further, and he was off again to continue the search.

 

Three weeks later, I was in the kitchen for an informal supper. Only two staff members were in the house, and I didn't even look up when the plate was placed in front of me. That's when I heard, 'You are not thankful to those who serve you.' I knew it was Craig's voice, and I looked up to see an amazing smile, and those sparkling grey eyes.

 

'What are you doing here?' I said, amazed.

 

'How did you get here?'

 

'I walked,' was all he said.

 

I realized we could easily get caught in the kitchen, so I hid him in my room. We spent days reacquainting ourselves, continuing to learn all about each other in the following weeks.

 

'Kath, you know I miss the land of Akwesasne. I was born there, and it's special to me.'

 

I thought he was preparing me for him to leave.

 

'My whole family is there, but you are here. I left them, my home, because even though a lifetime of learning told me of what was done to keep our lands, and our ways, my heart was away with you, here. I had to come and find the place my heart was now living.'

 

We knew we belonged together. That's when we knew we were in love.

 

Our relationship grew increasingly physical. We wanted to be together. That night was amazing. There was a full moon, and a perfect, gentle, warm breeze blew the curtains in my room like hazy clouds. It was all I could have dreamed of. For months we spent our nights locked in each other's arms. We didn't care there could be consequences.

 

It was inevitable. I got pregnant, but Craig loved me even more. We were making plans for our future. After the baby came, we were going to get married - we'd both be 18 shortly after, and then it would be OK - we wouldn't need permission. We just had to make it to that point without Richard finding out. He was my legal guardian then, and until I was 18, he had the right to make all the decisions concerning my life.

 

I was surprised when Richard came home when I was 8 months pregnant. He had heard 'rumors'," Kathleen re-enacted Richard's air quotes.

 

"I tried to stay away from him, but it was impossible to hide, especially 8 months pregnant. I made sure Craig was well away from him. Richard never knew he was in the house."

 

"What did Richard do?"

 

"You mean after he yelled 'til he was blue? Yeah, he was…quite angry. Told me how I ruined my future, put a black mark on the family reputation - Richard was a master of guilt - I think it was because he had so much guilt within him that he felt it was only fair to spread it around. He hovered over me, just waiting for me to have my baby. If he had known what was going on in my room all those months, he would have exploded."

 

Jane settled into the space next to Kathleen and assumed the lying on the back, staring up while hugging a pillow position. Since neither of them was looking, John came in the window, and settled in the corner to continuing listening. It was a part of Kathleen he knew nothing about, and he liked the way she told the story. John and Kathleen had spent much of the last few months together, but she was still such a mystery.

 

Once Jane, and the unseen John, was settled, Kathleen continued.

 

"Then it happened. I went into labor. Craig was there, and thankfully, Richard was at a dinner trying to spin the 'rumors' of my pregnancy. Craig was holding my hand, keeping me focussed. He kept my mind off the pain - he tried, anyway. We decided on names, and he told me how our lives together were going to be. Then he was born, our son - Sean - 8lbs, 9oz, 21 inches."

 

"Wow," Jane commented.

 

"Yeah, I know. And he was beautiful. I loved him with all my heart."

 

Kathleen had to fight to hold back the tears in her eyes as she remembered every bit of that moment. She fell into the memory completely.

 

"Richard showed up an hour later, and he wasn't alone. Two security guards came into my room with him, and they started dragging Craig out of the room. He struggled, resisted, and I tried to find out what was happening."

 

"Alright, boys, take him downtown - she's underage, and he's already 18, plenty of charges just waiting."

 

"No, Richard, I love him, I am going to marry him, and we will raise our child."

 

"On the contrary, if he doesn't agree to stay on the St. Regis Reservation, and never again set foot across the American border, he will spend the rest of his life rotting in a hole."

 

"It's Akwesasne."

 

"What?" Richard barked at Craig.

 

"My land is called Akwesasne."

 

"Yeah, whatever. If you don't agree to go back there and stay away from this family, you will learn what power can do. Not only will you never see the sky again, you will see what friends in high places can do about the budget to clean up those contaminations along the St. Lawrence Seaway - clearly the lead and mercury have left you at a mental disadvantage if you thought you'd get your hands on my family's money this easily."

 

"We were kids, and he was powerful. We didn't know what he could do, but he sounded so sure he could do everything he said. I was spent, but I was going to fight for the life I wanted. I tried to get out of bed, but I couldn't."

 

"Kath, don't. I'll go. We will get beyond this. Keep our son safe. You will do what's right."

 

"He was dragged out of the room, and while he was no longer struggling, the guards continued to man-handle him."

 

"Don't treat him like that," Kathleen yelled at Richard.

 

"You - I have done everything to keep you safe, educated, protected, and you find a savage, take him to your bed, produce his spawn, and expect to live happily ever after while he sucks your trust fund dry."

 

"Craig doesn't care about my money - he loves me," she emphasized the last word by pointing at her heart.

 

"You would never understand that kind of connection. He loves me for me - he nourished my soul - he saved me from the hollow life that was turning me into a shell. He's responsible for the turnaround in my life - not you."

 

Richard turned bright red with anger. He shook like he was about to uncork a lava flow of venom. His fists clenched and his face pinched up. Suddenly, he turned and left the room.

 

Later, the nurse came in to check on Kathleen.

 

"Nurse, when can I see my son? Can you bring him to me?"

 

"I'm sorry, but it's against policy for adoptees to see their birth mothers."

 

"There must be some misunderstanding. My son is not up for adoption. I want to see him."

 

"He has already been taken home by his new parents. You made the right choice."

 

The nurse began to leave.

 

"No, come back, I need him. Nooooo……"

 

"Richard had taken my son from me too."

 

Kathleen cried now as hard as she had then. Jane didn't know what to do, but before she could do anything, John had risen from his seat below the window, and was lying behind Kathleen, holding and rocking her. His eyes met Jane's, and they began to cry as well.

 

"How could he?" Kathleen whimpered, "I lost everything that night. Everything."

 

Slowly, the crying ebbed, and soon it was isolated sobs. The tears were gone, not because it was over, but because her tear ducts were empty. John stroked her hair and whimpered each time a wave of dry crying swept over Kathleen.

 

She was still now, and keeping her eyes closed.

 

"John, Jane, I wish to be alone, please."

 

Jane got up from the bed, but John remained wrapped around Kathleen.

 

"It's alright, John, I'd like you to go."

 

John reluctantly did as his aunt had requested, and took hold of the hand Jane was holding out for him. They left Kathleen's room, and Jane turned back to say, "If you need us, we'll be in the atrium until dinner."

 

As they walked down the hall to the atrium, Jane posed, "I thought you were waiting for me in the atrium?"

 

"I wanted to help Kathleen. I wanted to know why she was so upset."

 

"Well, she had good reason. I still can't believe it. Richard is crueler than I believed possible."

 

"Why would he take her child?"

 

"He didn't want to ruin the family name."

 

"I don't understand."

 

"Well, I think Richard believed the man Kathleen loved was not good enough for her, and having a child bonded them forever. He didn't want people to see his family that way, so he made it all go away. It was cruel, heartless, and mean."

 

"Richard does not understand how the heart works."

 

"No, I don't think he does."

 

They looked at each other longingly. With the same thought in both their minds, their lips met each other halfway, and they passionately engulfed each other as they fell into the atrium. They raced each other to the private cocoon, losing clothing as they went. Next to the cocoon was a wide tree trunk. The now naked John lifted and pressed Jane to the tree. She was only wearing a bra, and John leaned his head in, and undid the front hook with his tongue and teeth, releasing Jane from its hold.

 

Jane deeply breathed when the air hit her bared skin, and it was accompanied by a forward thrusting of her chest. John began some forward thrusting of his own and delighted in the way Jane's breathing caught. Jane's breathing settled into a pattern of deep exhales as John slid in, and strong inhales as he slipped back from her. There was a quick, intense conclusion to this interlude, but it would not be an end to the activities.

 

With quick recoveries in between, John and Jane experimented with all the possible ways they could bring their bodies together. Each took turns being in control, taking the lead. They both had tricks the other was unaware of thus far. Their final stop was under the cascading waters. They washed away the physical evidence of the wild encounters that they had needed after the sadness of Kathleen's losses. The grief needed an outlet, and John and Jane's expressions of wild love were the form they took.

 

As the final rinse flowed over them, they clung tightly.

 

"When we have a child, I will not let anyone take it from us," John whispered.

 

Jane's eyes got saucer big, and her mouth dropped open a bit as goose bumps traveled her limbs. John felt the goose bumps and said, "Time to get out of the water for you," thinking they had been because of the water's mild chill.

 

"Jane?" he asked when she did not move from the water with him. He turned her around to face him, and saw the stunned look on her face.

 

"What is wrong?"

 

"You've thought about us having children?"

 

"Yes. You are my mate, is that not how things work? Do you not want to carry our offspring?"

 

There was confusion and fear in his eyes.

 

"John, when we're ready, I can't imagine…I…yes, I want…I never thought I'd say this. I want to have children with you. But, for now, I enjoy the practice."

 

John beamed and kissed Jane.

 

"Maybe we could practice some more now," John seductively purred, feeling his body gearing up. Jane was more than willing. She took matters into her hands and showed him a trick she had been saving for a moment of true inspiration.

 

~~~~~

 

Still in her bedroom, Kathleen played out the rest of her memory of that day - what had happened after Richard dared again come into her hospital room.

 

"What did you do?"

 

"Why, Kathleen, what do you mean?"

 

"My son. They told me someone adopted my son."

 

"All nice and legal - see - you even signed on the bottom line," Richard smirked, showing Kathleen the legal document.

 

"That's not my signature, and you know it."

 

"You should calm down."

 

"You can't hide the truth. People will know I had a baby - people will ask questions."

 

"What strong medication they must have you on, dear sister. Your appendectomy went off without a hitch - didn't even leave a scar."

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

"As far as anyone will know, that's why you were in the hospital - oh, and if I ever find you near native boy again, I may have to question your fitness to control your trust fund, or anything else. Don't test me."

 

Richard strode away, his destruction of Kathleen's dreams complete.

 

~~~~~

 

When Jane got to work in the morning, Sam was waiting.

 

"So, how did that family emergency play out?"

 

Jane mouthed the words, 'not here', as the captain walked past, headed to his office.

 

Sam nodded, and they didn't speak of it within the walls of the police station.

 

On the drive to a crime scene later in the day, Jane told Sam enough for him to understand why she hadn't returned to work.

 

"That's a new low to put on the Richard graph. Stealing babies - and from his own sister, no less. I don't know how he sleeps with himself."

 

"Sam, don't mention I told you. I'm not sure how she'd feel about me telling you. And don't tell Nicky. Kathleen trusted me with this, and she was really broken up. I hope John understands not to tell."

 

"You know I'm no good with secrets like this."

 

"Do your best."

 

"Do you think she'll want to meet the kid?"

 

"I don't know. That's something she'll have to decide for herself. I can see it being a tough choice, but at least she has the choice this time."

 

~~~~~

 

Several weeks passed. Kathleen decided she did, indeed, want to meet her son. She began a letter to him many times, but it was so hard to write her feelings. It was agony and torture, and painful memories. What was Craig like now? How had his life progressed? What did he know of what happened to her after he had been lead away? Kathleen distilled it all into a short letter.

 

'I would very much like to meet my biological son. The choice to give him up was never mine, and I would dearly love to see him. Please make all necessary arrangements and contacts.'

 

She sent that short letter to the adoption agency, and waited. Every day, she would look for the letter that would give her back her son, even if it was only for a one-time meeting.

 

During these weeks, Richard remained missing. It was eerie - he had just dropped off the face of the earth. If Kathleen hadn't been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she might have felt a tinge of guilt for not lifting a finger to find out what had happened to him.

 

~~~~~


	2. Find

Mind and Heart; Body and Soul

Parts 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Native Heartbeat Quadrilogy

Part 13

"Find !"

 

"Jane, can I borrow this?" Nicky asked, emerging from Jane's room with a nice, sleeveless, white blouse.

 

"My silk blouse? I don't think so."

 

"Come on Jane, I need something dressy."

 

"What for?"

 

"Dinner. At a fancy place. I need…to look good."

 

"How fancy?"

 

"One step below black tie."

 

"Fess up, Nicky, what's going on?"

 

"Damon is taking me to…"

 

"Damon? I thought he went home. Wasn't he only touring the campus?"

 

"Jane, I like him. He's here longer than expected, and we get along really well. The dinner is with Damon's parents, both of them. I want to make a good impression. Please?" she said, renewing her request to borrow the blouse.

 

Jane relented. John had said Damon seemed alright to him, and trust from John was hard to earn. Why hadn't he told her Nicky was still seeing him? Hmmm, she'd have to grill him tonight. A nasty smirk crossed Jane's lips. Oh, how she might enjoy slowly getting John to tell her what she wanted to know. He would tell her, but maybe she could make a pleasant game of the interrogation. 'Tell me what I want, or I will kiss you again.' Jane's body was reacting as if she was touching John now, and feeling his touch in return. Jane's head fell all the way back, and her eyes shut, letting this feeling sweep over her body.

 

"Jane? You OK?" Nicky asked, watching Jane feel the pleasure of imaginary John.

 

Jane snapped back to reality, feeling a bit embarrassed.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking ahead."

 

Nicky smirked.

 

"You don't even have to be anywhere near John to feel him, do you? I'm so jealous. Why can't there be one of him out there for me."

 

"I thought Damon was that special to you."

 

"We just met, but he wants to include me in a big celebration. Should I be flattered or scared?"

 

"Just take it as it comes. Don't blow it out of proportion. I made every step with John so big; I scared myself away from telling him important things until we both were tied in knots. You have always been better at letting your heart do the talking. Be yourself. But if you spill on my blouse..."

 

Nicky laughed.

 

"Hey, I mean it," Jane half yelled, and broke into a smile.

 

"Thanks Jane."

 

~~~~~

 

Jane heard the 'thud' of John's feet on her windowsill. A smile swept across her face, and she moved swiftly to greet him, feeling a lurch of thrills in her stomach. Hearing him arrive at her window would never stop making her heart thump that much faster. John met her in the hall, not waiting for her to come to him. He swept her up into his arms and breathed in her scent as her hair enveloped his face. Jane let all the air empty from her lungs as his touch just left her limp in his arms. John gently sucked at the skin of Jane's throat, both of them moaning. He tried to place her back on her feet, but she was still as limp as a rag doll. They sank to their knees right there in the hall, and began kissing, John holding Jane from total collapse.

 

Nicky came out of her room right then, and John caught her scent. He slipped a hand under Jane's knees and spun to face Nicky, Jane in his strong arms.

 

"You look happy," he said to her.

 

Nicky smiled and blushed. Jane felt her strength return, and dropped from John's arms.

 

"You look black tie to me," Jane complemented, "Damon would be crazy if he didn't find you to be beautiful."

 

Jane slowly smiled. She was proud of who Nicky had become. Tears started filling the corners of Jane's eyes, and the same began to happen to Nicky.

 

"Oh, Jane don't do that. I just got my mascara right. If I cry I will look like a raccoon."

 

"Sorry. You just look so grown up. It's a big sister's prerogative to feel nostalgic when her baby sister looks like a full-grown woman. Get going before I get you all teary."

 

Nicky gave Jane a quick hug, smiled at John, and picked up her purse and wrap, and left for her date with Damon.

 

As soon as she was out the door, Jane turned her attention back to John.

 

"You," Jane teased, poking John in the chest.

 

"What?" he innocently replied.

 

"You said you would keep an eye on Nicky."

 

"I did," he said, confused.

 

"You didn't tell me Damon was still in town, and that she was still seeing him."

 

"He would not hurt her. I have seen how he treats her. It is good."

 

"You feel that good about him?"

 

"Yes. Damon is Nicky's Tarzan."

 

"Whoa, there. You think they are going to be together? Forever? Not if I can help it," Jane said striding to go save her sister from this lothario.

 

John pulled Jane back against his body.

 

"He will not move too fast. Nicky would not allow it. She is smart, like you."

 

"Sometimes smart doesn't translate to matters of the heart. You know that first-hand from me."

 

"Things will go as they are meant to," John whispered in Jane's ear, and then nibbled the lobe. He slipped his hands under the hem of Jane's shirt, and stroked her soft skin. She melted back against him, and he pulled her tighter. His hands wandered slowly higher, stopping at the bottom band of Jane's bra.

 

"Oh, yes, John."

 

"Jane," he breathed into the back of her hair. He found the soft skin at the base of Jane's neck and his wet lips traced her hairline. All the while, he was stepping them into Jane's room, inching closer to the bed, wanting to lose himself within her.

 

He released the clasp on her bra, and his hands quickly came up to cover her breasts. The feeling of her hardening nipples in his palms made him take longer strides to get to the bed faster.

 

"John."

 

Jane rolled herself around and captured John's mouth with hers. As their lips parted from each other, John took a step back and lifted Jane's shirt over her head. She shifted her shoulders back to help the bra fall away. John began to electrify Jane's skin with his darting tongue. He targeted anything that would be stimulating. He circled each nipple, trailed down Jane's front, and as he pushed her pants lower and lower, he plunged his tongue into Jane's navel. Jane fell back onto the bed, her legs coming up and wrapping around John at armpit level. He was pleased at her reactions, and took the opportunity to remove her pants completely.

 

He stood looking down at her, and a smile crawled onto his face.

 

"You wear nothing under your pants today."

 

"I was thinking about you," she said, starting to run her hands over herself. John was on fire. His shirt was discarded, and with a pull of a drawstring, John was naked as well. He leaned his head back close to Jane's navel, and she clasped his head.

 

"Keep going," she encouraged.

 

John did as she requested, reaching the most sensitive of places moments later. Jane's legs moved up over John's shoulders and she curled up in half as he pleasured her to no end. Tasting Jane that way made him harder than ever.

 

"Oh, Tarzan," she softly moaned.

 

Hearing Jane call him 'Tarzan' pushed him beyond control. He pushed her knees to either side of his shoulders and gathered her into his arms. He threw her up the bed, and with a growl, jumped up after her. A shrill laugh came from Jane. She wrapped around him as he landed, and lifted up, feeling him drive deep.

 

"Oh, yes, oh god."

 

He was growling, unable to stop or slow down. Jane was taking him in fully, wondering if she had ever felt something so glorious in all her years.

 

"Say it again," John managed through clenched teeth.

 

"Tarzan," she breathed into his ear, "Ah, oh."

 

The sound of that coming from Jane's lips was something he had dreamed of hearing. The taste of her alone would have driven him to this, but to hear her call him Tarzan - he was unbridled.

 

Two could play the wild game. Jane took a tight hold on John's shoulders, and as the inevitable, overpowering climax hit, she bit into John's upper lip. She could feel him bite into her lower lip, and a rush of vocalizations passed one mouth to the other. She closed her eyes. There was only one other thing that had made her head spin like that in her life, and it didn't compare. There was just no parallel Jane could truly make work between wild sex with John, and closing her eyes while on the sit-n-spin she had as a child. Only the spinning in her head was the same.

 

'Remember to breathe', Jane thought to herself as the waves rolled on. John opened his eyes, and looked amazed with his own performance.

 

"That was good," Jane panted.

 

"How…? How does it…? How can it be better than ever before?"

 

"I noticed that."

 

'How?" he still questioned, "The taste of you - it made me - "

 

"Uh huh," Jane interrupted, again taking his lips.

 

He didn't need to finish that sentence. They both knew.

 

"Say it again," John said with a smile.

 

"Grrrrrr, Tarzan," she growled, and took his bottom lip between her teeth.

 

He had never felt so wanted.

 

~~~~~

 

Nicky was nervous as she arrived at the restaurant. Damon was waiting out front.

 

"You look wow," Damon said, eliciting a broad smile from her. She blushed, and looked down. Damon took her by the hand, and held it tight as they walked to the table where his parents awaited.

 

"Mom, this is Nicky."

 

"Hi," Nicky squeaked out, feeling the air around her leave.

 

"Don't leave the girl to hyperventilate, Tinka. Please, sit," Edgar encouraged.

 

"Mom."

 

"Yes, please, sit, join us," Tinka finally said.

 

'Remember to breathe', Nicky admonished herself. Her face lost its redness. Damon still held her hand.

 

"Damon tells us you are a good student," his mother stated.

 

"I get mostly A's, except in chemistry."

 

Tinka smiled. "I find that hard to believe, you seem to have a good understanding of chemistry."

 

Nicky and Damon blushed.

 

"Mom."

 

"Stop 'mom' -ing me. I know what I see."

 

"Shall we order?" Edgar broke in with.

 

~~~~~

 

Meanwhile, inside the crumbling hull of a small plane in the Congolese jungle, there was a semi-circle of incense and candles. In the low flickering light, a figure is seated in the lotus position. The hands hover inches above the thighs, palms upturned in meditative contemplation. Several weeks growth of beard covered the now gaunt, hollow cheeks, and dark purple circles sit below the eyes of a broken Richard Clayton.

 

His all-consuming obsession with controlling everything in his life had turned on him. He had spewed so much venom, such hatred, that it had nearly gotten his sister murdered. When he had visited Kathleen in the hospital, he had not expected a warm welcome, but a part of him wanted a thank-you, no matter how little he deserved it.

 

Richard's conscience had been purged. He had kept his sister - even Porter, from being killed. Whatever higher beings there were should be applauding his efforts, but the nightmares would not stop. The sound, the feeling - SNAP - that sharp turn that separated skull from spine. A life taken by his own hands. Richard knew he was not himself. Changes had to be made.

 

It was subtle changes to begin with. A stray complement would issue forth from his lips, always surprising the recipient. Richard re-established several foundations that he had let lapse. He was redirecting funds, making corporate donations to dozens of charities. The business world was all a-whisper. Kathleen was concerned with what she was reading, hearing.

 

The kinder, gentler Richard was not going over well with his cutthroat business friends. Even people within Greystoke Industries were questioning his fitness to be CEO. The stockholders and board members took a no confidence vote - Richard survived by one vote.

 

That night was the worst nightmare of them all. Richard dreamed he had snapped his own head off.

 

"Don't worry, I can fix this," Nash said in the dream, "It's just like when a tooth gets knocked out - if I press it back in place, it might stay."

 

Nash pushed and pushed the head onto the stump of Richard's neck. Richard awoke with a start, sweat pouring from him. What did he have to do? He had always been a glacier inside - calm, calculating, sure. He had to again find inner peace - some way to sleep through the night again. Richard only knew one person he thought might be able to help him - but it had been many years, and bad circumstances that had brought them together. Richard would have to risk opening the grave of that deeply buried secret.

 

Richard put everything in order. He named substitutes to take over his business responsibilities. He disbanded his private police force, and fired Nash - even taking away his key card and ID so he could not even enter the building! Richard officially signed over temporary control of Greystoke, and disappeared into the night. Only his car was left behind, sitting in the parking lot for the train station.

 

~~~~~

 

Nicky's dinner with Damon and his parents went well. After the ice was broken, it was lively, comfortable. Nicky was surprised how well she comported herself. It was her first 'meet the parents' date. She still wondered what they were supposed to be celebrating, but she was not going to be the one who broached the subject.

 

Damon's father, Edgar, raised his glass, and waited for the rest to copy him. When all glasses hovered near the center of the table, he spoke.

 

"To find what was missing, to complete the puzzle. That time has at last come."

 

They clanked their glasses, Nicky wondering what that cryptic toast was all about. All three saw Nicky's look. Tinka raised an eyebrow at Edgar, who passed that message on to Damon.

 

"Tell her," Tinka commanded from her son.

 

"I found oot today. My birth mother has agreed to meet with me. I was adopted with no knowledge of my maternal line. All I knew was my father was an Akwesasne Mohawk. There is a piece of me that was missing. I hope to find it with her."

 

Nicky didn't know what to say. A part of her was honored that he wanted her to share this with him. She smiled, and felt the heat of a blush on her cheeks. She gave Damon a quick hug.

 

"I hope it goes the way you want," Nicky finally said once she had retaken her seat.

 

"Yeah, I'm a little nervous, but I need to know…Mom, Dad, would it be OK if Nicky and I…"

 

"Go. The night is young. You don't want to spend the night with the folks," Edgar said.

 

Damon escorted Nicky, and they just walked for quite some time.

 

"Is something bothering you?" Damon asked.

 

"Why did you include me tonight - don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did. I just don't know why."

 

"I wanted someone other than my parents there. I wanted to tell you because I trust you. If I am going to be going to school here next year, I want to spend time with you. If there was this thing hanging over me, that I felt I couldn't talk to you aboot, I would feel bad aboot not telling you from the start. I guess I wanted to have someone who would not be hurt by either my acceptance or rejection by the woman who gave me life. I need you."

 

Nicky turned and hugged Damon.

 

"Thank-you. It means a lot that you want me to be part of this part of your life. When do you meet her?"

 

"I don't know yet…soon, I hope."

 

~~~~~

 

Later, outside the apartment, John heard voices, and silenced Jane with a finger across his lips. She lay still and quiet beneath John's warmth.

 

"Nicky is bringing Damon up to meet you."

 

"What? Now?

 

"Yes."

 

"Oh, god," Jane exclaimed, pushing John off her and frantically finding her clothes.

 

John was amused by all the movement. When Jane sat to get her shoes back on, John still sat there, naked, and put his arms around her.

 

"I thought I was the only one who made you say 'Oh god'," he whispered with a smile.

 

"You're the only one who makes me say that for a good reason," she whispered back, her smile equal to his, "Now put something on that body so we can both leave this room. I promise I will take it all back off of you later."

 

Jane growled and bit at the air, and John got an anticipatory glint in his eyes. He quickly found something to cover himself.

 

Jane had made it to the center of the livingroom when Nicky opened the door and invited Damon in.

 

"Jane, I'd like you to meet Damon."

 

Damon reached out his hand saying, "Ms. Porter, your sister has said nothing but nice things aboot you."

 

"Oh, please, call me Jane, or detective."

 

"Jane," Nicky mewed.

 

"It's nice to meet you Damon."

 

John came out of Jane's room, and tip-toed up behind Jane, placing his hands on her shoulders.

 

"Oh, and this is John…my…uh…other half," she said, a far more seductive tone in her voice than she intended.

 

"Hi, John, I'm Damon."

 

"I know. Hello."

 

Nicky raised an eyebrow, and threw a look at Jane. It registered as an instant 'uh-oh' in Jane's gut. John's answer had been telling. Nicky returned to pleasant mode for now.

 

"Would you like some dessert, or have you already?" Jane asked, hoping to make Nicky forget what she thought she knew.

 

"I can 'nuke' a pie," Jane offered.

 

"No thanks," Damon politely declined, "My parents will be waiting. It was a pleasure to meet both of you. Goodnight," he said with a nod and a dip.

 

Nicky escorted him to the door, and they hugged goodnight. As she turned back toward John and Jane, her eyebrow floated back up.

 

"You had me followed, didn't you? That's how John already knew who he was. Is that right, John?"

 

"No."

 

"No?"

 

"I did follow you, but Jane did not know. I heard her worry from outside her window, and I went to keep you safe - make sure you got home."

 

Nicky had all this anger built up that she was sure she was going to be justified in releasing on her sister, but now she was left with nowhere to blow her top.

 

"Well, stop it," Nicky said, more curtly than she meant to say to John.

 

He turned, worried, to look at Jane.

 

"Oh, John, I'm sorry. I know you don't mean to overprotect me, but - wait, you didn't try to keep him away from me, why?"

 

"He smells familiar, in a good way."

 

"Oh - so you think he's OK?"

 

"Yes."

 

"What about Jane?"

 

"Jane wants you happy, too," John blurted quickly.

 

"He's right," Jane confirmed.

 

Nicky ran up and hugged Jane, and John wrapped his arms around the both of them. The two women giggled, feeling those strong arms binding them all together. As they let go, Nicky got that look again.

 

"What is it this time?" Jane asked.

 

"Why were you so strange about meeting him? You don't have a problem with him because he's Native American, do you?"

 

"Nicky," a shocked Jane gasped, "have I ever said or done anything that would give you the impression that I am prejudiced in any way?"

 

"No, but why were you all nervous?"

 

"Well, you know you could warn a person before you bring someone you want me to meet. A call, just to warn me. If John hadn't heard you two downstairs, you would have found a very different picture up here."

 

"Oh," Nicky inhaled, covering her mouth.

 

"Yeah," Jane lobbed back.

 

"I'm so sorry…but, it does explain one other thing."

 

"What?"

 

"Why you have your shirt on backwards."

 

Jane's eyes grew large.

 

"Please tell me you're kidding."

 

Jane slowly lowered her eyes to match where Nicky's had trailed. A curled up tag came into the bottom of her field of view, and Jane's face sank.

 

"It's OK," Nicky comforted, moving to hug Jane.

 

John closed back in and said in his comforting tone, "Do not worry. You will not be in the shirt much longer."

 

The mouths on both Jane and Nicky dropped wide open. Nicky stepped back, and John enveloped Jane in his embrace. He whisked her back to the bedroom and made good on his words - the shirt was soon discarded.

 

~~~~~

 

As Damon returned to the hotel, his father had news.

 

"When we got back tonight, there was a message. Your birth mother's address and phone number. She's ready to see you. All you have to do is call and set a time."

 

Damon took in a deep breath and let it flow out of himself slowly. He lowered his heart rate to a meditative level, closing his eyes. He stayed that way for nearly ten minutes. His eyes came open, and he took the phone in his hand.

 

"Yes, I'd like to speak to Kathleen Clayton please."

 

~~~~~

 

Richard had left his car at the train station, and headed north. His destination was Toronto, and the man who might be able to salvage Richard's sanity. He remembered the address all these years, and soon was knocking on a door he hadn't seen in nearly 20 years.

 

"What?" the man behind the door said as he opened it.

 

"I'm looking for-"

 

"My brother moved 5 years ago - back to the reservation."

 

"Could you give me directions?"

 

After a moment behind the door, the man handed Richard a slip of paper.

 

"Here's the address, find your own directions."

 

The door shut in his face.

 

Richard found a map. He traced the path he needed to take. He rented a car. Once he was in the right city he knew to take the Trans Canada Highway, Rt. 401 until it lead to the Akwesasne International Highway. Once he reached the reservation, Richard started looking for signs that would lead to the Kawennoke or Cornwall District, one of the four residential districts on the reservation. This was the one that was located in Ontario.

 

Richard approached a modest single family dwelling, and knocked on the Door.

 

"I thought we were never to meet again."

 

"I need your help," Richard voiced.

 

Without another word, he was invited into the house. Richard told the man his troubling dreams. The man made no attempt explain or absolve Richard of his obvious, uncharacteristic guilt.

 

"You must return to the source of the trouble - go back to the very beginning of where your path strayed. Our meeting was not the start of these things. It's goes back farther, and deeper. You will not find peace until you find the beginning of the path, and make peace with these ghosts from your past. Your quest began with your search. You must come to terms with your brother's loss. Go back to the beginning."

 

Richard took his words in. He nodded with every phrase, agreeing with every sentiment. A clearly subdued Richard left the home less than an hour after he had arrived - he knew what he had to do. He had to go to the Congo - he had to go to where John, Sr.'s spirit had crossed over - he had to go back to the crash site.

 

Inside the house, the man's wife approached him.

 

"I thought he would never darken our doorway again. I feel the sudden urge to purify this room."

 

"Do not worry, Tinka, he will be headed far away now, where he won't hurt us. Now is the time - we must act while he is away."

 

"Edgar, are you sure?"

 

"He needs to know her - it will fill in many blanks for him."

 

The front door opened and the teen entered.

 

"Who was that leaving?" he inquired.

 

"Someone whose soul has finally found him. Wash for dinner, Damon."

 

~~~~~

 

The morning after Nicky had brought Damon up to meet Jane and John came early. John and Jane had kept each other occupied well into the wee hours of the morning, and Nicky was not getting much sleep either due to their noisy activities. At about 3AM, Nicky pounded on the adjoining wall.

 

"Stop already. I need sleep."

 

John and Jane looked at each other and smiled. John pulled the blanket up over them to muffle their noises, and they tried really hard to be quiet as they continued - they made a game of it, and somehow, the thought that they were trying to be quiet made it very intense. Finally spent, they curled up wrapped around each other. John spent the night with his head flanked by breasts. Jane could feel the warmth and then coolness of his breath when he exhaled the warm, moist air and inhaled cool air, pulling it past her skin.

 

In that way too soon of a morning, Nicky had class - thankfully not an 8AM class, but 9:15 was early enough for Nicky to still be half a zombie when she sat at her desk.

 

"Ms. Porter, if we are boring you, you are free to leave," the professor said loudly booming his voice in the big tiered room.

 

"My roommate kept me awake. I'm sorry."

 

~~~~~

 

Jane dropped John off at the manor and she headed to work. John greeted Kathleen in the kitchen, and had a hearty breakfast. As he vacuumed the food into his system, Kathleen commented, "Somebody worked up an appetite."

 

John smirked and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he went to his atrium. He dashed through the waterfall, and climbed to his high perch without bothering to put anything on. The sun was deliciously heating his perch, and he wanted to air dry. It felt so good as the water slowly dried on his skin in the sunlight. He felt totally complete. Jane had called him 'Tarzan'. It did not matter that it was while she was almost delirious with desire - perhaps it was because he had taken her away from thought. Maybe she thought of him as Tarzan, but just needed to call him John because it was his proper name, and her world required this of her. Whatever, it did not matter. She felt that she could call him by the name he had grown to know as his far more so than John.

 

His mind began to relive the moment - the sound of 'Tarzan' coming in Jane's voice - it was the same effect he saw every time he said 'Jane' to her in that seductive purr that made her melt. His breathing became moan after moan as he imagined again being with Jane. He felt himself rise, and he smiled. How he would satisfy her if she was here now. She would whisper, "Tarzan, don't stop. I want to lick you like you licked me, and I want this to go on forever. Put your body into my hands."

 

He moaned and his body arched. Jane was not here to help him relieve this building passion. He sat and looked down at himself. Why couldn't Jane be here? He pulled the blanket he had up there over him. He hoped that not looking, and thinking about other things would just make it all go away. Cold water, uncle Richard, being caged - Jane visiting him the first time, the first night they were together, yesterday hearing her call him Tarzan - damn, this was not going to work. It was worse. It was getting painful. He tried to push himself down, but he wanted to feel Jane around him. Jane could relieve him with the touch of her hands. He would have to. He kept the folded blanket over himself, one hand staying above the cloth the other slipping below. It was almost instantaneous. He grabbed himself and felt release. He lay back down on his ledge and his breathing calmed. Oh what just thinking about Jane did to his body! He drowsed on his ledge.

 

~~~~~

 

Just before noon, the front doorbell rang at the manor.

 

"Ms. Clayton, Detectives Porter and Sullivan to see you."

 

Up in the atrium, John's eyes snapped open.

 

"Jane," he whispered. He found pants, and ran to be with Jane.

 

"Jane, Sam, What's happened now?"

 

"Richard resurfaced, briefly," Jane began. "He rented a car in Toronto."

 

"What is he up to?"

 

"Wish we knew," Sam interjected.

 

"The captain said to keep you updated," Jane said.

 

"I'm glad you are the ones they are sending. I hate the way some of the other cops act when they come into this house."

 

"Should I tell the captain that someone has acted improperly?"

 

"No. It's just nice that it can be friends."

 

"Jane!" an excited John exclaimed. "Can you stay?"

 

"Your in luck, jungleboy. We're on lunch the moment we are done delivering our message, and that is right now."

 

John didn't need to hear another word. He picked Jane up and ran with her to the atrium. He took her up to his perch and began kissing her, touching her, removing her clothing. He was already hard as a rock, and Jane was feeling herself being pulled along in John's lunchtime plans. When he let her really take a breath the next time, she got, "whoa" out and he looked into her eyes.

 

"Slow down."

 

"I can't. I have been thinking about you. I had to…myself. I couldn't wait for you to be here."

 

"It's OK, John. It's OK to do that."

 

"But I want to feel you. I want you to take me there."

 

"Just calm down. Kiss me."

 

He passionately engulfed her lips and unbuttoned her blouse. She was undoing her own pants, and wriggled out of them and they dropped from the ledge. Jane couldn't help but laugh. She sat up and John reached around her. Next thing you know, underwear was airborne. Soon they were enjoying each other. Jane was a little nervous so high up, but John held her securely. The hard surface was taking a toll on her tailbone.

 

"John, can we switch."

 

"If you say it."

 

"Tarzan."

 

John lifted off her and picked her up. He spun quickly to his back and pulled her back onto him.

 

"Tarzan," she whispered again.

 

He was growling, and Jane growled back. It was more than he could take. He pulled her closer, and lost himself. They stayed connected as they basked. The sunlight was still baking his high perch.

 

"Shower with me?" John asked, almost begging.

 

"Just a quick one."

 

John brought them back down to the floor, and they moved into the water.

 

~~~~~

 

"I don't want to think about it," Sam said.

 

"Sam, there's nothing wrong with it."

 

"I know, Kathleen, but I still don't want to think about it, and I know what they are doing up there and we'll have to go back to work and Jane will have this goofy grin all afternoon."

 

"You sound jealous."

 

"Hell no. Jane is the most infuriating, opinionated - "

 

"Not like that. You want what they have with each other. That consuming passion."

 

"I don't understand it. I've never felt that kind of whatever it is."

 

"It's rare, but it never leaves you once you know what it is like."

 

Sam got a serious look in his eyes and he gently slipped his hand over Kathleen's.

 

"She told you."

 

Sam nodded slowly.

 

"I figured she would. I'm still waiting for Nicky to come crying at some point."

 

"Jane didn't tell her."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah. So how goes it?"

 

"I'm meeting him this afternoon. He called. We talked for a few minutes, but both of us agreed face to face would be better for getting to know each other."

 

"Today? Why didn't you just kick us out? You don't need us all hanging around for this."

 

"Actually, I'm glad there are people in the house. I don't know if I can handle being alone while I wait for him to show up. Oh, god, 20 minutes. I've waited 18 years, and the last 20 minutes are going to kill me."

 

"Come here," Sam said opening his arms.

 

"Aunt Kathleen, what is wrong?" John said seeing Sam comforting her.

 

"My son - he's coming to see me."

 

"That's wonderful," Jane declared, entering the room. "When?"

 

"Oh, god, 15 minutes."

 

"We should go."

 

"No. Please stay?"

 

Kathleen looked genuinely terrified.

 

~~~~~

 

The doorbell rang. Kathleen jumped. She got to her feet and headed to the door, waving Mary off. This was one door she wanted to answer - she had waited forever to answer. She took a deep breath, and took hold of the knob. She pulled the door open, and there he stood. He was his father at that age. Kathleen's mouth fell open. The only thing different was that this young man's eyes were gray/blue instead of the stone gray Craig's eyes were.

 

"Oh my god, you look just like him. Sean?"

 

"My parents called me Damon."

 

"Of, of course. Come in, please."

 

Kathleen started to raise her arms. She ached to feel him.

 

"May I?" she asked, extending her hands.

 

He opened his arms as well, and Kathleen pulled him close and held tight. She released a loud sob. He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to succumb to the urge to cry he was feeling. He was not one to cry, but he was feeling overwhelmed. Kathleen released him, hoping she hadn't overstepped on this first meeting.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"No, it's OK. I understand."

 

Kathleen's face broke into a shallow smile.

 

"You sound like him, too."

 

"Who was my father?" Damon asked.

 

"Oh, my god, I should have told him. I should have tried to find him. I haven't seen him in 18 years."

 

"Did you love him?"

 

"Yes, with all my heart."

 

"Did he love you?"

 

She just nodded, tearing up again.

 

"Then what happened?"

 

"That's a very long story, but I will tell you all of it, if you want."

 

From the livingroom, they heard voices.

 

"Someone else is here?"

 

"Yes, my nephew lives here, and his girlfriend is here with her work partner. They had news to tell me about my brother. I wasn't expecting them to be here - would you want to meet them? I had them stay because I was nervous about meeting you. I understand if you think it's too much."

 

"No, it's fine. They are all like family to you, I see it in your eyes."

 

"You can come out here everyone," Kathleen called.

 

Damon's back was to the approaching group, but John got his scent the moment he turned the corner, and picked up his pace. This scared Jane, thinking he was charging at Kathleen's son for some unknown reason. John reached out and turned Damon around.

 

"John, don't hurt…him."

 

She was stunned to see Damon's face.

 

"Damon?"

 

Kathleen blurted out, "How do you know him?" at the precise moment Damon said, "how do you know her?"

 

Jane leaned back a bit.

 

"Nicky has been dating him. We just met," she said to Kathleen, and then turned to Damon. "John is her nephew."

 

"Small world, eh?" Sam joked.

 

"Ah, Damon, this is my partner, Sam."

 

"This is why you smell familiar - you are family."

 

John was right. He had felt something good about this young man from the first good sniff, now he knew why.

 

"Does Nicky know about this?" Jane asked.

 

"She knows I was adopted, and that I was going to meet my birth mother today, but…"

 

"It's alright," Kathleen said in a soothing tone. "Would you like to have Nicky here? I feel bad that I've kept this from her, but it has been hard for me to talk about."

 

"From what I know of Nicky, she will be happy," Damon tentatively uttered.

 

"I know."

 

"I'll call her," Jane offered, "If you want."

 

Damon nodded, and Kathleen confirmed it.

 

"She will be so surprised!" Jane enthused, "Oh, and I'm not telling her why I want her here to begin with."

 

Jane picked up her phone and speed dialed Nicky.

 

"Hey, yeah."

 

"Nicky, could you come over to the manor right now?"

 

"Why? Hey, why are you there and not at work?"

 

"Sam and I had a message to deliver to Kathleen, and then it was lunchtime, and I couldn't get away from John, if you know what I mean. There's just something here I need you to see, OK?"

 

"Oh, my god, lunchtime! Damon is meeting his mom right now."

 

"Please, Nicky?"

 

"OK. There's nothing I can do until he calls anyway. I'll be there in 15."

 

When Nicky arrived, she heard voices from the livingroom.

 

"Hello?" Nicky yelled.

 

"Come in here Nicky," Jane's voice returned from the distance.

 

Nicky came to the doorway, and looked in. There were John, Jane, and Sam on one couch, and Kathleen, and the back of someone whose face Nicky couldn't see.

 

"Nicky, I'd like you to meet someone."

 

"This isn't some weird set Nicky up on a date scheme, is it? I mean, I'm seeing someone."

 

"Relax, Nicky, it's nothing like that. I'd like you to meet…my son."

 

Saying those words filled Kathleen with pride and sadness, and she rose to her feet. Damon rose and turned as well, and Nicky's mouth just fell to the floor as she realized who was standing there. Her hand clamped over her mouth.

 

"Damon," her muted voice squealed. She ran to him, and flung her arms around him. When she let go, she looked at Kathleen.

 

"I didn't know."

 

"I know. I didn't tell anyone until a few weeks ago, until after I got the letter saying he wanted to meet me. It was, painful to remember, but I will tell the whole story to both of you, together."

 

"Kathleen," Jane quietly interrupted, "we have to go back to work," she said indicating Sam and herself.

 

Kathleen nodded, and they left. It was just Kathleen, Nicky, John, and Damon, the long lost son.

 

Kathleen took a deep breath to prepare herself before launching into the long story.

 

~~~~~

 

When she was done telling how it had all come to pass, there was not a dry eye in the room. Nicky was red eyed and snuffing as she held tight to Damon's hand. He was mindlessly stroking his thumb across her hand as he stared at Kathleen while her story unfolded. John was glued to every word - especially the part he hadn't heard the first time. Kathleen was far more controlled in her response to the emotions this time. She didn't want Damon to feel responsible for her pain, so she shielded him from the depths of it the best she could, but Damon could see how deep the pain ran within her eyes.

 

John crouched low next to Kathleen as she still sat upon the couch. His expansive left hand was across her back, and his right was held in a loose fist by her left knee. Kathleen draped her hand over John's fisted one on her knee, and gently squeezed. It brought John's eyes up to look at hers, and she gave him a smile of appreciation.

 

Her eyes again shifted back to Damon.

 

"So like your father," slipped from between her lips.

 

"I said the out loud, sorry."

 

"It is OK. I understand. I always wondered why. I wondered if I could look in your eyes, and feel anything other than the anger and pain that came when I thought of not being wanted. Now I know I was wanted, by both sets of my parents."

 

Kathleen held as long as she could, but sobs overtook her, and her eyes flowed. John and Damon both moved to comfort Kathleen, and between the two of them, totally wrapped her up in their arms. Damon backed off and Nicky hooked one arm around his waist and clutched a hand to his shoulder. He turned to look at Nicky, and she saw more tears in his blue/grey eyes.

 

~~~~~

 

"I wonder how things are going over at Kathleen's," Jane wondered aloud as she sat at her desk.

 

"Fine, I'm sure," Sam said, hoping she would get back to work before the captain noticed she was just sitting there.

 

"Nicky was so surprised."

 

"Jane, work time, please?"

 

"I know. It's just all so big, and weird. It makes sense though, in a way. John liked him from the beginning. I couldn't understand why. His nose knew," Jane laughed at the end.

 

"Yeah, well, if we don't crack this case soon, you won't get to go home to find out how it all played out, so for now…"

 

"OK, Sam, bounce ideas off me. Anything you might think will help us find that elusive breakthrough."

 

~~~~~

 

Damon had more questions. Kathleen's story had covered part of it, but there was something he just had to know.

 

"Is Richard still alive?"

 

"Yes, he is."

 

"Do you think he would tell me why he did what he did?"

 

"I don't know. We have not been close. I couldn't forgive him. The day he took you away from me, our relationship as it was ended. I think it changed him too. He has done things in the last 18 years that are even worse."

 

Kathleen stopped and looked at John with those words.

 

Turning back toward Damon, she picked up with, "He's still powerful, and controlling, and…"

 

"I will stay away from him if you think it is best."

 

"I have no right to say who you see. He is a part of your family."

 

"But he is missing," John added.

 

"Missing?" Damon asked.

 

'Yes," Kathleen said, "he has not been seen for several weeks. I figured he'd show up by now. He was acting odd for weeks before he just slipped into the night. That's why Jane and Sam were here earlier. They were keeping me informed."

 

"What about my father? You say you have not seen him since right after I was born. Why did you not go to him? Look for me?"

 

"I was afraid. Richard had threatened to have Craig arrested. He told me if I tried to see him, he would find a way to make both our lives hell. I was young enough to believe he could do exactly what he threatened. I didn't want anything to happen to Craig. Richard threatened to take away any control I had over my own life. I was already alone. I had lost so much. I was afraid he'd…I don't know, but I was too scared to cross him."

 

Damon got off the couch and began pacing. An inner anger was fighting its way to the surface. John knew the look in his eyes, and stood and faced him. They stood eye to eye and toe to toe.

 

"I know what you feel. Richard hurt me too. He tried to keep me from my family. He did not win. WE did."

 

John nodded an affirmative, and Damon did the same back. They were more alike than it appeared on the outside. They shared a pain of Richard's causing. Kathleen stood and looked at the two of them. They stood face to face in front of the fireplace mantle; the outline of the large opening behind them filled with darkness. They were the light in front of that darkness, and the light in Kathleen's heart.

 

She looked above at the portrait against that wall. The big picture was the teenage John, Sr. and Richard holding the young Kathleen between them - the first picture to contain all three Clayton heirs. Pressed into the bottom edge of the frame was the last picture of the three of them together - this time Kathleen was the teen. She stared into the warm eyes of John, Sr., and smiled. As she passed her look over to Richard, his beady, rat-like stare came back at her. Her face crinkled as she thought about who he had become since then. So sad, and maddening at the same time.

 

John and Damon looked to where Kathleen's eyes had fixed. John looked back at Kathleen, almost reading her thoughts about her one living brother. Damon looked too, but the look he brought to bare on Kathleen was wholly different.

 

"What is it?" She asked her re-found son.

 

"I've seen him."

 

"What?"

 

"I saw him."

 

"Where? When?" Kathleen inquired.

 

"The day before my father asked if I would want to meet you since I was now 18. He was at our hoose, leaving when I arrived home. He seemed to know my father, but my parents did not look happy that he had been there."

 

Kathleen raised an eyebrow.

 

"May I meet your father?"

 

"I am sure he would be willing. He really wanted me to seek you oot. Maybe he can answer these questions for both of us."

 

~~~~~


	3. Ghosts

Mind and Heart; Body and Soul

Parts 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Native Heartbeat Quadrilogy

Part 14

"Ghosts"

 

 

It had been a good beginning. Damon was everything Kathleen could have hoped her son would be. It was so strange that Nicky had been dating him and that John and Jane knew him too. He had gone back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and he asked his father a serious question.

 

"The man who was at our hoose that day, was he Richard Clayton?"

 

Edgar took a deep breath and answered, "yes."

 

"Did you know what he had done?"

 

"Not in the beginning. I never would have taken you from loving parents. He made us believe that you had been unwanted, abandoned. By the time I started getting clues to what had really taken place, you were 10 years old. You were our child, in all ways that mattered."

 

"Will you meet with Kathleen? Tell her what you know?"

 

"If that is what you and she wish."

 

"Yes."

 

~~~~~

 

The next day, the doorbell rang at the manor. John answered the door. He smiled when he saw Damon.

 

"John, this is the father who raised me. Father, this John, Kathleen's nephew."

 

"Hello," John said.

 

"Nice to meet you," Edgar answered with a nod.

 

"Is Kathleen home?" Damon asked.

 

"Yes. I will get her."

 

John scampered away to Kathleen's office.

 

"He's not Richard's son, is he?"

 

"No. His father was John, Sr. Nicky told me some of his story. He was thought dead for many years. He grew up alone in the jungle. Nicky's sister Jane has helped him a lot since he's been in the city."

 

"Perhaps we both have things to learn from one another."

 

It was another cryptic statement from dad. Damon wondered if he ever didn't talk in code.

 

Kathleen swept into the room.

 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," She addressed toward Edgar, her hand held out to shake.

 

Soon they were in the livingroom, nervously broaching a touchy subject.

 

"Sir, I…yesterday…Damon said he had seen my brother Richard at your house a few weeks ago. I would like to know how you know each other, and what you talked about that day. Richard is missing. You may be our only clue to what he's doing."

 

"I met Richard almost 20 years ago. He was seeking information aboot native survival rituals. He was curious aboot what kind of inner strength it took to live long term without 'civilization'. I asked why he wanted to know, and that's when he told me about the crash. He said there had been signs on some of his visits that left him with a gut feeling that his nephew had survived. He wondered if it would be possible, after such prolonged isolation, to find the core humanity of one forced to live as a savage. He seemed respectful, honestly curious. I had no reason to doubt him. His concern looked genuine."

 

Kathleen listened intently, as did Damon.

 

"We talked aboot a great many things, including Tinka's and my wish to be parents. We had considered adoption, but wanted a child who needed us, as the people we are. When he told me he knew of a child who was half Mohawk, from my own tribe, who was not wanted, we jumped at the chance. We didn't ask too many questions for fear that we would lose this chance. He arranged the private adoption - the only stipulation was that it all remain closed. We were never to hear who the birth mother was, and there was to be no contact. Richard said he would never cross my path again."

 

"But he did?"

 

"Yes. Several weeks ago, he knocked on my door."

 

"What did he want?"

 

"He was being haunted. His dreams were robbing him of his sleep. I told him he must go back to the beginning. Find the cause, the root of all his troubles, and face it."

 

"Wait, you told him what?"

 

"His soul needed soothing. He has been a troubled soul ever since John, Sr. died. I did not say it in so many words, but I think what he took from my words was that he should return to the Congo, and confront his demons. When I saw this in his eyes, I knew it was time for Damon to make the move to meet you. With Richard away, you would both have the chance you needed."

 

Kathleen was quiet; stunned was more like it.

 

"How did you learn that I was the one who had given birth to Damon?"

 

"There were clues everywhere. I should have come to you myself, but I, too, feared Richard's power. I kept quiet, but there were questions I could see in my son's eyes that I could not answer. It was time."

 

There was a heavy silence for several minutes. It was all so tangled together. Richard's web of deceit was being unraveled, and he wasn't even sitting in the web to see it. He had unraveled first.

 

"Kathleen?" Damon broke the silence.

 

"Yes?"

 

"I would like to meet my birth father too. Do you think you could find him?"

 

"I'll certainly try. I know where to start at least. You may have already met him, and not known who he was. I don't know if he stayed on the Akwesasne Reservation, but that was where he returned after Richard threatened him."

 

"Do you know which residential district he was from?"

 

"No. I was only there once, briefly, many years ago. I wasn't thinking about where I was."

 

"I would offer my help to you."

 

"If I can't find him myself, I will take you up on your offer. Please, stay for lunch?"

 

"Damon may remain if he wishes, but I have other places that require my appearance today. I do not wish to stand in the way of you getting to know one another."

 

Edgar said his goodbyes, and Damon did stay. As Edgar exited the living room, John was there. He had listened from another room, not wanting to cast a shadow over the proceedings. John had found that others became quiet and withdrawn in his presence, and he knew Kathleen needed this man to tell her something.

 

"Hello again," Edgar said to the obviously curious former feral.

 

John just continued to size the man up.

 

"I am glad you came oot of the jungle. I always hoped you did survive."

 

"Did he always treat me as an object to be hunted?"

 

"Richard?"

 

John nodded.

 

"I think he became obsessed to the point of madness after he gave Damon to us. I could only see that as the act of a desperate man who had lost the meaning of family. After taking such steps to keep the place as heir only yours, he had to find you, no matter the methods used."

 

"He had me shot," John stoically phrased.

 

Edgar just shook his head in anguish.

 

"Thank-you," John added with a new warmth in his voice.

 

"For what?"

 

"For helping Kathleen, and for sharing Damon."

 

Edgar tried to think of words with which to respond, but he could think of nothing that would compare to the honest, kind expression John had made. He simply nodded and pressed his lips into a smile as he fought back tears. John understood. Edgar's face had spoken.

 

John joined Kathleen and Damon in the dining room as Edgar made his way out of the house.

 

There were a lot of nervous stares across the table during this meal. John tried to eat with the manners he had been working on, but he resorted to his hands before the meal was done.

 

"John, would you like to show Damon the atrium?"

 

John nodded, enthusiastically, and got up to go now.

 

"Come. It is full of trees. We can climb."

 

John sped off and Damon sprinted to keep him within sight. Damon was nearly out of breath as he reached the doors to the atrium. John turned back to see him, and smiled. Damon swept the room with his eyes, marveling. An indoor jungle, and cousin who was perfectly suited to living in such a room. This second family of Damon's was not at all what he expected.

 

"Can you climb?" John asked Damon.

 

"Yes, I can climb. Maybe not as well as you, but I am good."

 

Without word or look, John began to scramble hand over foot toward the glass roof above them. Damon began climbing as well, but was never able to catch up to John. Soon, both were perched as high as the roof would allow, looking down on the atrium floor.

 

"You climb well," John complemented his new found family.

 

"But you have more practice," Damon answered.

 

"I can teach you to climb faster," John offered.

 

"I will keep that in mind."

 

John did a sniffing sweep of the area, and a giant smile took over his face.

 

"What?" Damon asked, noticing the attitude shift in John.

 

"Jane is coming."

 

John hit the floor as the atrium door opened and Jane stepped in. John ran up to her and sensually scented her.

 

"John…we're not alone," Jane whispered, noticing Damon searching for footholds to get him back down to earth.

 

"So?" John said into her ear as he continued to scent her.

 

"I'll leave you two alone," Damon said as he passed out the doors and closed them behind him.

 

"Now we are alone," John said as he planted his lips on hers.

 

"John."

 

"What?"

 

"That was inconsiderate."

 

"What was?"

 

"Damon was here with you. You shouldn't have ignored him because I came in."

 

"Should I ask him to come back in here?"

 

"It's too late. It would seem forced. Just remember that you can't forget the rest of the world just because you want to be close to me."

 

"I'll remember."

 

John lightly sniffed around Jane's neck. The way his hair leaned as he tilted his head from side to side made Jane's stomach butterfly central. She unconsciously moaned. John knew exactly what he was doing, but Jane was reluctant to let him continue knowing Damon was nearby. John sensed her reluctance, but he would not be swayed. His sniff became a trail of kisses and Jane felt a weakness in her knees. John used that as an opportunity to take the upper hand. His hands wandered, undressing her as he went.

 

"John, we shouldn't right now," Jane struggled to say.

 

He growled.

 

"Call me Tarzan."

 

"That would just make things worse."

 

His growl was more of a moan this time. He knew Jane was not going to give in to his wishes.

 

"You are not staying," John said, his head dropping.

 

"No. I can't. Sam and I have a stakeout…we have to watch to see what some people are doing."

 

"You are hunting?"

 

"Yeah, in a way."

 

"I can help."

 

"You know I can't let you."

 

John leaned his head on Jane's shoulder, and his lower lip protruded in a pout. He breathed deep, taking in her scent. He felt the chills he created in Jane, and had to keep himself from smiling.

 

"Stop that," Jane said in a warm tone.

 

Now John had to smile. He brought his head up, and looked into Jane's loving, but sternly determined eyes. She was not going to let him be part of her work.

 

"How long will you be away?"

 

"Could be all night. I'm sorry John."

 

"Goodbye kiss?" he smirked.

 

Jane was wary because of that look on his face, but she wanted a kiss to have lingering in her mind, so she kissed him gently. He was not going to let the opportunity pass. He increased the suction on her lips, sucking strongly, never wanting the parting of their lips. They sank to their knees, a passion growing despite Jane's best efforts to break free.

 

With a loud smack, Jane pulled her lips free, and filled the lungs that were begging for air.

 

"John…I will take the memory of that with me. It will get me through the long night without you."

 

Jane pushed back, and rolled to her feet. John stayed down, sinking into a splay-legged sprawl on the floor. He gave Jane a passion-filled, but pained look. It almost killed her, but she walked away from him. She had to.

 

It took John about ten minutes to put himself back together after Jane left him. It was only after Damon and Kathleen heard Jane leave again that they ventured up to the atrium.

 

"John, is something wrong?" Kathleen asked.

 

"Jane has to stake - out tonight. She may not come home until the morning. I will miss her."

 

"I'm sorry she won't be here for you, but it is part of her job, and other than you, she loves that job."

 

”I know."

 

"Perhaps you can show me how you climb so well," Damon said, hoping to get John's mind off Jane.

 

"I would like that," John answered.

 

~~~~~

 

Kathleen was pleased that her 'boys' were playing nice. They were close enough in age, and had become quick friends. They were almost like brothers. Both loved nature, and understood plants and their uses, and they both understood the nature of animals, how to hunt, and when to leave a situation alone. John felt a kinship to Damon that went well beyond their blood ties.

 

As John and Damon disappeared into the foliage, Kathleen smiled, and closed the atrium doors. She had work to do. Damon wanted to meet the man who made him, and Kathleen ached with the thoughts of who Craig might be now. She swiftly got to her office and began her quest. She tried several people finders. None of the free services got her anywhere. Kathleen was reluctant to pay for such a public search. She got on the phone to one of the P.I.'s she used to keep tabs on Richard - she was discreet to the greatest degree. Kathleen knew she could trust her.

 

"Hey, Lexi, I need to find someone. His name was Craig Runs-with-Thunder. I don't know if he still goes by that or not. The last I knew, he was living on the Akwesasne Reservation - it's also called St. Regis…Yeah, the one that straddles the US and Canada. It's really important…Thanks."

 

Kathleen hung up, and let out a deep breath. It was out of her hands. She was always better at delegating than doing. Lexi would find him. If he was still on this planet, Lexi would find him.

 

Kathleen tried to get some work done, but her mind was 18 years in the past. She leaned back in her office chair, thinking about the months she spent with Craig hidden in her room. She smiled when she thought about the upstairs maid who stumbled on him one day. She kept Kathleen's secret. Until Kathleen was no longer in the house, that woman held many secrets for her. But then Kathleen remembered her abrupt disappearance. It was just one more of Richard's attempts to keep Kathleen isolated.

 

Kathleen went into her bedroom. She opened the big closet and separated all the clothes. There was a piece of loose base moulding, and Kathleen pulled it back. There was a small space behind it, and Kathleen reached in and pulled a shoebox out of the space. It was covered with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs, but that was not to deter Kathleen. She sat cross-legged in the closet, and opened the box.

 

There on top was a Polaroid taken at the camp that summer. It was Kathleen and Craig. She remembered how worried she was when she heard the Hrr-whirrr of the picture being taken. Craig was not supposed to be there, and if the counselors caught him there, she would be in so much trouble. Luckily, it had been one of her cabin mates. It was a treasured keepsake; one she had buried along with the memories of this time. Now she was bringing it all back up. The feelings, the fears, the plans, they were all fresh in her mind again. Looking at the picture showed Kathleen just how much Damon did look like Craig at that age. It was eerie, like a ghost of her past was now walking around in her house.

 

Kathleen probed deeper into the box - the necklace - the grey quartz stone that matched his eyes. She swallowed hard as it sat in her palm. She slipped it over her head, feeling the cold stone come to rest against her chest. Then there were the letters. The paper had yellowed, the ink faded some, but the words still held the essence of their relationship's beginning. She spent several hours rereading her relationship, learning again all that made her love Craig.

 

When the phone in her office rang, Kathleen was startled, but she went to answer it anyway. She still had the letters clutched in her hands, and wore the necklace.

 

"Hello?"

 

"Yeah, Kathleen, it's Lexi. I found your guy."

 

"That quick?"

 

"Yeah, lucked out - found a big article about him. I'll email that to you. He goes by Craig R.W. Thunder now. He's a tribal environmental guardian. He gets in the governments' - plural - US and Canada - faces. He fights to keep the land and water around the Akwesasne Reservation clean, pollution free. Despite his opposition to the building of the casino, he now uses it as a way to connect with some of the other bigwigs. Chances are, if you want a face to face with him, start at the casino. If he's not there, you'll find someone who knows where he is."

 

"Thank-you so much. I never expected you could find him so fast."

 

"That's what I'm here for. Call me for anything, you know that. Bye Kathleen."

 

"Bye Lexi."

 

Kathleen held on until she heard the click and dial tone, then she slowly re-cradled her receiver. So quick? Kathleen secretly hoped it would take a little longer. Subconsciously, she feared seeing Craig again after all these years. She had changed a lot, and she knew he was not going to be the young man full of dreams and promise she had met at one of the lowest points in her life. All that only to ride to the heights of happiness and then be dashed by the cruelty of her brother. It was all a bit overwhelming. Kathleen opened the front drawer of her desk, and placed the letters there. She went back to her room, and put the Polaroid in the drawer in her nightstand. She clasped the stone that was around her neck, and smoothed it between her fingers. She lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. Kathleen fell asleep.

 

~~~~~

 

In the morning, it was all a little clearer. Kathleen felt like she was back in control of what was about to happen. At breakfast, she was joined by John, Damon, and Nicky, and soon Jane arrived home starved for both food and sleep. John and Damon had spent many hours negotiating the limbs and trunks in the atrium. John had imparted much wisdom to his young cousin.

 

When Jane came through the door, she looked spent. She nearly staggered to her seat, and John quickly snuggled up to her side. He made sure she ate enough, then picked her up. He knew when she didn't protest that she was not herself. She just gave him a big hazy smile, and closed her eyes as she leaned her head against his chest. He placed her carefully on the bed in the room all her things were in.

 

"Jane?"

 

"Un-huh," she mumbled.

 

"You must do that thing to your gun to make it safe."

 

"Yeah."

 

She shook back to life long enough to pull her weapon and remove the clip.

 

'There you go," she sleepily said, holding the clip in one hand and the gun in the other. John gingerly took the two pieces, and placed them on the bedside table. He pulled the badge off her belt, and undid the belt and her pants. He stripped her down to just her underwear, freed her tied back hair, and pulled the sheet up over the two of them. John had missed holding Jane all night, but he would hold her now. He tucked her against his body, took a deep breath through her hair, and felt himself relax. Even if he didn't sleep, Jane would sleep well, comforted by her mate.

 

Back in the kitchen, Kathleen told Damon and Nicky that she had found Craig. He was still on the reservation, and quite well known. Damon was not familiar with his work, but it did not matter. He would know where he came from.

 

After Jane and John were up again, Kathleen gathered the whole clan in the livingroom. She told John and Jane about finding her long ago love, and her plan to see him and introduce him to the son he had not seen since the day of his birth. Kathleen looked a bit shaky, but she got through it.

 

"I'd like you all to come. I'll feel more comfortable if I have my friends and family around me."

 

They all agreed. That weekend, the limo would carry the group of five to the Akwesasne Reservation, and there, she would face her past.

 

~~~~~

 

The trip was long, nearly seven hours from New York City to the casino on the Akwesasne reservation. Kathleen brought her laptop so she could keep working. That was how she passed the time. She thought nothing of it. Often on flights even longer than this trip would be, Kathleen would work non-stop from one end to the other. Seven hours in the back of a limo was quite comfortable to her.

 

Damon and Nicky sat sideways on the back facing seat. They were playing a head to head video game, each determined to be the victor. Nicky knew how nervous Damon was at the prospect of meeting his birth father. She figured keeping his mind busy would be good for him. It wouldn't allow him time to obsess.

 

John and Jane were next to Kathleen on the front facing seat. They sat closely together. They got such an early start that Jane was a zombie. She was cuddled against John, and kept shifting. It was divine torture. He knew she was nearly asleep, and therefore was not purposely brushing him in such erotic ways, but John's body could not be convinced. He spent this first leg of the journey hoping he could keep his hands to himself.

 

They had been on I - 87, heading toward Albany, for a number of miles when Kathleen saw the rest-stop sign.

 

"Driver, pull into the rest-stop please."

 

Kathleen had overdone the coffee this morning, and her nerves coupled with the increased caffeine intake had made her bladder signal her it was time for a pit stop. Jane finally awoke and stretched as she felt the slower pace of the limo crawling through the parking lot.

 

"Are we there?" she said within a yawn.

 

"No, bathroom break - time to stretch our legs," Kathleen responded.

 

"Oh," the groggy Jane moaned.

 

Nicky and Damon grabbed a grease on a bun late breakfast in one of the stores. Jane asked Nicky to grab her a BIG coffee. Kathleen barely allowed the car to park before she was inside waiting for her turn in the bathroom.

 

"Ma'am, I'm gonna fill the gas tank," the driver informed after her.

 

"Fine," Kathleen yelled as she increased her pace.

 

"Will you be staying with the car?" the driver asked John and Jane.

 

Jane was about to say yes, but John quickly and emphatically said, "No, we will be getting out."

 

He took Jane by the wrist and pulled her from the back of the limo, headed straight for the woods that surrounded the place.

 

"John?"

 

He said nothing until they were obscured by the trees. And even then, his answer was a passionate kiss, followed by another.

 

"Um, John, what's this about?"

 

"All the way here, your body rubbed on mine. I thought I would never stand it. Even in sleep your hands know me."

 

Jane blushed slightly and smiled, rolling her bottom lip into her mouth.

 

John pulled her flush to him, and she knew just how true his statement had been.

 

"John, this is no place to…relieve that need."

 

"Jane, either you help me with this need, or it will happen anyway and embarrass us both publicly."

 

He said the words in all seriousness. His look told of his desire.

 

Jane looked around. The cover seemed thick enough. She undid the button and zipper on her jeans and eased them down, taking the underwear down as well.

 

"All right, but nothing fancy. We don't have that long."

 

John wasted no time. Both sighed deeply once joined. It was quick, but fulfilling. John felt much more relaxed as they left the wooded area.

 

Once back out on the road, Jane drank her coffee, and still snuggled to John. Kathleen was busily typing on her computer, and Nicky and Damon were spooned on their seat, sleeping. The morning rush was gone. Kathleen was not working, though. She was playing Tetris. She took a page out of Nicky's distraction theory. It did help.

 

~~~~~

 

Kathleen entered the restaurant attached to the casino, and looked around. It was loud and lively. Kathleen took a deep breath, preparing herself for coming face to face with someone she had loved intensely, and then not seen for nearly 20 years. She had no idea how he might react. Kathleen now carefully scanned the room. Starting to the far right, she ran her eyes slowly across the crowd. She got to the far left corner without seeing anyone who looked as she thought Craig would now look. She started back across the room, and when her head and gaze were straight ahead, she gasped and sucked in. Those grey eyes. It had to be him.

 

As her eyes had swept past that point the last time, Craig had been obscured by the group he was talking to, but they had turned from one another and were looking out over the room themselves this time. Their conversation continued, until mid-sentence, Craig stopped and his mouth dropped open.

 

"What?" one of his cohorts asked as Craig fell silent.

 

"A ghost," was all he said, and he shifted from an almost reclined standing position to a forward lean.

 

Kathleen felt her jaw slacken, and mouth fall as well. She gulped, and leaned forward, as if they were being drawn from across the room.

 

They picked up speed as they got closer and closer, but dead stopped just short of touching. They searched each other's eyes, and looked each other over. Tears were welling up in Kathleen's eyes. As if on choreographed cue, they raised their hands, palms flat, toward each other, and pressed them together and intertwined the fingers. They both let out the breaths they had been holding. You could feel the electricity surrounding them.

 

What Might Have Been - Little Texas

Sure I think about you now and then But it's been a long, long time. I've got a good life now, I've moved on So when you cross my mind....

Chorus: I try not to think about What might have been 'cause that was then And we've taken different roads We can't go back again, there's no use giving in And there's no way to know What might have been.

We could sit and talk about this all night long, And wonder why we didn't last Yes, they might be the best days we will ever know But we'll have to leave them in the past.

So try not to think about What might have been 'cause that was then And we've taken different roads We can't go back again, there's no use giving in And there's no way to know What might have been.

That same old look in your eyes It's a beautiful night I'm so tempted to stay But too much time has gone by We should just say goodbye And turn and walk away.

And try not to think about What might have been 'cause that was then And we've taken different roads We can't go back again, there's no use giving in And there's no way to know What might have been. No, we'll never know What might have been

 

 

"I thought you were a ghost," Craig whispered.

 

"I was, until now," was her answer.

 

They found a booth to sit at and each took a side to themselves. For long moments they just stared. It was unreal, and too real. Kathleen felt a shiver travel her spine, and she gulped again, noticeably.

 

"There is one thing I must know," Craig started, "does our son live?"

 

With an escaping tear, Kathleen answered, "yes he does."

 

He was reading her face, seeing all she felt. This joy was muted by an unspeakable pain.

 

"Why did you wait so long to come back to me? And what made you choose now?"

 

"Richard's threats left a deep impression. I feared his power. I feared what he would do to you, even now."

 

Now a smile overtook Kathleen's face.

 

"And I chose now, because I have seen our son for the first time since he was born just these last two weeks. He found me."

 

"I feared that Richard would take him from you, but I never heard."

 

Two more tears traversed Kathleen's cheeks - one from each eye. She felt a huge lump in her throat that she was having trouble speaking around.

 

"Within hours I lost you and Sean. I have never been so low, so lost, or so scared… He's a fine young man. I'm still getting to know him, but I feel it all again - the love, the protectiveness. I did not know how much I had missed having him in my life until he was back in it."

 

Craig brushed the tears from Kathleen's cheeks. She had not kept their son from him. She had been kept from him as well. They had both been denied 18 years of their son's life. Richard had done his worst, but he could not stop what was coming.

 

"When I met him, it was like seeing a ghost for me. He looks so much as you did at that age, and his voice…" Kathleen closed her eyes, just absorbing it all. "His voice, his way - he is your son - "

 

"Our son," Craig corrected.

 

"Our son," Kathleen repeated, a smile taking over her face with pride. "He'd like to meet you."

 

"I have waited all these years to hear those words. When?"

 

"Right now, if you like."

 

"He's here?"

 

"He's outside, in my car. I wanted to see you alone first - to explain how…"

 

"There is no need. I did my best to keep track of your movements over the years, but I lost you, sometimes for years at a time. It was as though you had ceased to exist, and then you would be back."

 

"Richard sent me away. He thought that if I was in another country somehow I would get over you. London, Paris, Amsterdam - I saw all the great cities, spent hours surrounded by the greatest works of art, but I never felt anything. I was hollow again. Everything reminded me of you. I wondered how you were. I wondered about our son. Richard and I never reconciled, and he did worse things as the years went by."

 

Kathleen was highly emotional. She was playing all Richard's evil deeds through her head. She saw him having Craig dragged from her hospital room, handing her the signed adoption papers. Pictured what he had done to John, and how he had endeavored to keep Jane from him simply because he showed her he could talk, and because he understood how powerful John's love for Jane would be if they consummated their mutual desires.

 

"Kath, it is the past. Don't let it ruin the now."

 

"No one has called me that in 18 years. I've missed it so much."

 

Kathleen's face was strained and pained. All possible emotions were cycling through her.

 

"Why did you think it was safe to come now? Isn't Richard still powerful?"

 

"Richard is missing. Actually, that's part of the reason our son came to find me now. His adoptive parents dealt directly with Richard, but they did not know the whole story. Recently, Richard contacted the adopted family, for something unrelated, and because of their meeting, Richard went on a quest that led him out of the country. Our son's parents knew it was the time to act. I will no longer let my fear of what Richard might do keep me away. I have power now too. We never did anything wrong."

 

"Kath, I waited so long. I never thought I'd see you again, but you are here, and you have brought the three of us back together. Nothing else matters. The past is just that. Now, introduce me to our son."

 

They smiled at each other, and Kathleen intertwined her fingers with Craig's. She began to stand, and he followed. For a moment they stopped touching, but soon enough, Craig had enveloped Kathleen's hand with one of his own, and he brought the arm with the free hand around to guide behind her back. They left through the door Kathleen had entered, and walked with all haste to her waiting limo. As they approached the car, the door on the far side opened. Nicky got out first, and pulled Damon by the hand.

 

"It's OK," she whispered to bolster his courage, and she came around the car with him.

 

Craig and Damon met eye to eye. The resemblance was awing. Damon's black, shoulder length hair blew back as a wind gusted, and Craig saw himself in the face and attitude that was gazing at him.

 

"Amazing," Craig said in a low voice. He turned and looked at Kathleen, but was unable to speak. He looked back at his unknown son.

 

"Damon," Kathleen stated, "this is your father."

 

"Hello," Damon finally came out with, and extended his hand.

 

Craig shook Damon's hand. Both used their most firm grip.

 

"Have we met before?" Damon inquired.

 

"We may have, but never as family."

 

John and Jane emerged from the limo, and came around the car to join the group.

 

"Craig?" Kathleen said, "this is my nephew John, Jr. and his…girlfriend Jane."

 

"I thought he was dead."

 

"Most people did," John offered. "I survived."

 

That was all the explanation John would offer.

 

"Hi," Jane said in greeting, and shook Craig's hand.

 

As Jane leaned back from Craig, John wrapped around her. He was feeling uneasy, so Jane just let him take some of her calming strength. She looked back over her shoulder at him, and smiled enough for him to see. John leaned his chin on Jane's shoulder, and touched the side of his head to Jane's head.

 

"This is Nicky. She's Jane's sister, and Damon's girlfriend," Kathleen introduced.

 

"Good to meet you," Craig politely uttered.

 

It was all a bit odd. This group of six nervous adults stood around a limo in a parking lot. Few words were exchanged, but lots of emotions flew from all of them. Craig felt uneasy. They were there as a unified group, but Craig felt like an outsider. Kathleen was beginning to see Craig withdrawing. It was all too much.

 

"Why don't we give you two some time alone," Kathleen said to Damon and Craig. She left them where they were, and walked around them to where John and Jane were. She collected Nicky on her way by Damon's side, turned all three of them away, and led them around the car. The four of them slipped inside the car.

 

"Why did you lead us away?" John asked.

 

"Even this many years later, I could see Craig getting nervous. There were too many of us. They needed some one on one time."

 

Outside the car, Damon and Craig still stood in the same places.

 

"Well," Craig said.

 

"Yeah," Damon answered in the same subdued tone.

 

"You've been living on the reservation?"

 

"We moved back here a few years ago - to Kawennoke."

 

"Do you like it here?" Craig asked.

 

"It's different than Toronto, that's for sure, but it's good."

 

"When did you…"

 

"I have always known I was adopted, but I knew nothing else until a while ago."

 

"Kathleen was right. You remind me of myself at your age. And I can see your parents raised you well. I would be honored if you would also consider me a father. I will understand if you think this will complicate your life too much, but I would like the chance to get to know you."

 

"I would like that. Kathleen has been very open about what transpired after my birth. She is a very honest, open person. I would like the chance to know you as well."

 

Craig extended his hand, and Damon took it, and they shook them. Kathleen watched the handshake, and it made her smile. Two men too long out of her life - together. Her heart warmed.

 

"So…" Craig again started, "your girlfriend is the sister of Kathleen's nephew's girlfriend?"

 

"It sounds so complicated when you put it that way."

 

"It's all a little tangled sounding."

 

"I know, but one cannot control who their heart chooses."

 

Craig smiled and nodded at Damon's observation.

 

"Perhaps standing in a parking lot is not the best place for us to become acquainted."

 

"Kathleen has arranged for our dinner, if you would like to join us all. I would like you to."

 

"I accept."

 

~~~~~

 

The dinner went well. The years melted away for Craig and Kathleen. They would touch and smile as they each told stories about their lives. The whole table sat spellbound as John told a story about life in the jungle as a small boy, and the day he got the claw mark on his shoulder. Jane, Kathleen, and Nicky teared up listening to his travails, but were proud of him too. They talked well into the night, only leaving when the cleaning crew started closing in on their table. The group reluctantly broke up. Kathleen offered to let Craig come home with them. She wanted to give Damon time to know Damon, and selfishly, she wanted Craig around.

 

"I can't just up and go. I have things I have to take care of. Tell you what, I'll wrap up some loose ends, and I'll come down in about a week. I can't wait. This is the best thing that could happen for me…My son…"

 

Craig got choked up.

 

"Excuse me," Craig said, turning his back. Kathleen put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Without turning back, he whispered, "I gotta go." They all understood. Craig was now the one overwhelmed with memories.

 

~~~~~

 

They returned to the manor. As they group came into the livingroom, there sat Sam. The air of exhaustion hung over them, but upon seeing Sam, there was a ripple of nervous energy. Sam gave Kathleen a hug and a peck on the cheek. Kathleen smiled.

 

"Sam?" Jane inquired. In that single mention of his name, she asked 'why are you here?' 'what have you found out?' and 'how much trouble will this cause?'

 

"Good to see you too, partner," he quipped.

 

"What has happened?" John asked, seeing Jane tense up.

 

"Glad you asked, jungle…John," Sam changed his word choice seeing Jane's look.

 

"Richard made another move. I found a chartered plane headed to, get this, the Congo. I talked to the pilot myself. He said Richard looked tired and wild-eyed. He was nervous, and mumbled to himself. Looks like he's slipped a nut."

 

"Sam."

 

"Hey, I call 'em as I see 'em."

 

They all sat. Jane draped herself across John's lap. Nicky leaned to Damon's back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kathleen sat in the chair and put her feet up, slouching down, looking up somewhat. Sam perched on the ottoman Kathleen's feet rested on. He placed his hand on her ankles, providing a supportive rub.

 

"What? No 'way to go', 'good searching', or 'that explains things'? I found some prime Richard info."

 

Before Kathleen could answer, Damon jumped in.

 

"My father, um, Edgar, he said Richard was haunted by the loss of his brother, and told us Richard seemed determined to go to the Congo. Perhaps he is searching for his lost soul, and that of his brother."

 

"Did he go alone?" John asked.

 

"According to the pilot, not only was he the only passenger, he didn't take anybody into the jungle with him. He went totally solo," Sam told the assemblage.

 

John got a pensive look and Jane noticed. She was about to ask him what he was thinking, but he turned quickly to her.

 

"Ready for bed?"

 

"Yeah, John. I'm ready."

 

They took each other by the hand, and soon ascended the stairs. John sat patiently on the bed while Jane disrobed and changed. He watched, enjoying the way she moved, the way she looked. Her perfect ivory skin brought a certain level of desire to John, and he moved behind Jane, clasping his arms around her body. He heavily exhaled across Jane's neck.

 

"What's wrong, John?"

 

"Richard is not strong alone. Here, he has others to do for him. When he came to 'find' me, he had others to do for him. He will not survive the jungle alone."

 

"Even after all he's done to you, you worry about him?"

 

"He is blood, and he needs to be saved. I did not."

 

"John, you're not thinking about going after him, are you?" Jane asked, alarmed.

 

John didn't answer. He just looked at Jane. She looked so worried for him. He turned her and smoothed his hand over her cheek and gave her a quick kiss.

 

"What if I need to go back there for me? It is my father's spirit he seeks. Why should I not go there?"

 

There was a long silence.

 

"John, can we get some sleep? I don't think this is a decision that should be made after a tough day. Alright?"

 

Jane's tone was calm. She didn't want John to feel like he was being confronted. That approach would only set his determination.

 

"OK," he said.

 

They crawled into the bed, and John snuggled tight to Jane's back. If she had not looked so tired, John would have tried to initiate a little something, but right now, he just wanted to hold his mate and calm her frayed nerves. They were soon asleep, Jane deeper than John, but both asleep none the less.

 

~~~~~

 

It had been a long week. Jane had been on a strange schedule - a night of stake out followed by a shortened day where she only worked afternoon into evening. When Jane was home, she was either sleeping, eating, or getting ready to go back to work. Luckily, John had occupied his time getting to know Damon. They climbed and talked. Damon heard all of John's stories, and learned many of John's physical tricks for climbing and stability in the trees. He was a quick study, and John was a good teacher. Damon showed great progress, and he knew that while John was busy, he didn't think about Richard. Nicky was part of Damon's time as well. They continued to date. Nicky was careful to take things slow. A part of her thought Damon could be 'the one', but she was not about to go too far too fast.

 

Now John and Damon sat atop the tallest tree in the atrium, and John withdrew into himself.

 

"What troubles you?" Damon asked.

 

"Jane has been busy. She works too hard."

 

"I know how you feel. Nicky has so many hard classes that I barely see her."

 

John nodded in understanding, but still something weighted on his mind.

 

"That's not all, is it?"

 

John smiled slightly at his perceptiveness.

 

"The others do not say it, but they worry about Richard. They fear he is planning something."

 

"You don’t agree?"

 

"All we have heard -Richard has lost himself."

 

Damon saw a measure of pity in John's eyes. John knew of what he spoke. He had seen animals, who after long lives of fighting to stay alive, just lost that edge. But why should he worry about Richard? John laughed to himself - the savage has more concern for the civilized man than the civilized man ever had for the savage.

 

"Hey, are you guys in here?" Nicky's voice echoed through the atrium.

 

A smile swept Damon's and John's faces at the same moment, their now beaming faces met eye to eye as the competition to hit the ground first began. They both turned to scramble down. John let the tree slip through his hands as he rapidly descended. He crouched to absorb the landing, his feet hitting with a thud seconds before Damon did. Nicky jumped back as they landed, and nervously giggled, quickly putting a hand to her mouth.

 

"Is Jane home too?" John excitedly uttered.

 

"Sorry, John, just me."

 

John's smile faded, but rebounded as he watched Nicky and Damon. They had stepped right up to each other and beamed shyly at each other. They each tilted their heads as they got nearer and nearer. As their lips touched, John slipped from the room. He trusted both of them, but it was more about missing Jane. Seeing someone else kiss just reminded him of how much this week had made John miss her.

 

~~~~~

 

Craig would be joining them on the weekend, and Kathleen was nervous and excited. He hadn't been in this house since he was 18. What kind of memories would it trigger? She had a room prepared for him not far from her own. She second-guessed that decision, fearing what he would think. The last thing she wanted was for Craig to think she was going to seduce him back into her bed.

 

Craig arrived in time for Friday's supper. Other than Kathleen and Craig, John and Jane, and Nicky and Damon were there, and Sam was also there. He was as much a part of the extended family as any of them now. John and Damon talked about climbing in the atrium. Craig's interest was piqued by the thought of a room with trees in it big enough to climb. Sam and Jane told vague details about their stakeout. Kathleen was uncharacteristically quiet, but she and Craig made eye contact frequently, like each was seeking out the other. Before the meal ended, all were aware of the unspoken conversation their eyes were having. No one spoke of this.

 

After dinner, Kathleen gave a quick tour of the place. Even though Craig had lived in the manor for a number of months, the wing that had been John's family's was sealed then, so he had never seen the atrium, or anything past the threshold into the other wing.

 

Craig smiled upon seeing the atrium, and understood the excitement with which John and Damon had described their climbing. He smiled and nodded at Kathleen. She still was going to amaze him. His heart thumped. He swallowed down that growing feeling, and let the tour continue.

 

~~~~~

 

John and Jane had stayed in the atrium after the group left. John locked the door to avoid unwanted intrusions, and turned the knob to begin the water cascading. Jane smirked, knowing exactly what was on his mind.

 

"You have been away all week," he purred as he pulled off his shirt.

 

"I know," she answered, quickly unbuttoning her own shirt to send it away.

 

"Jane…"

 

"I know," she comforted, her finger trailing down over his lips as she was now right against him.

 

His arms wrapped around her, and his hands moved from her buttocks to her shoulders, unfastening her bra when he encountered it. He began to plow her towards the water, but she managed to stop him so she could remove her remaining clothing, and he got the clue, following suit. As the two naked bodies caressed, a week of not being allowed this pleasure melded into a plan of action. They soon stood below the water, and both knew there would be little need for foreplay. A little stroking, some licking and sucking, and lots of kissing and they were ready. After a quicky in the water, John carried Jane to the marble bench where he lay his back to the surface and brought her down on top of him. She slowly explored him. Her hands curved around every part of him.

 

~~~~~

 

As the tour continued, Nicky and Damon peeled off leaving just Kathleen and Craig by the time she reached the room that was his. Kathleen was even nervous when she discovered they were alone in his room. Craig could read her nerves.

 

"Kath, it's just me. I know a lot of time has passed, but you have nothing to fear from me."

 

"I know."

 

"Yet you still shake. Look, I don't know what to expect either. A lot has changed since we last stood within these walls. I remember those days fondly -"

 

"As do I," Kathleen interjected.

 

"But we are not two teenagers with big plans for the future anymore. We are two people with a teen - one we were not allowed to raise. We have much catching up to do."

 

Kathleen nodded and smiled at him.

 

Abruptly changing the topic, Kathleen walked to the balcony doors and opened them.

 

"Have you seen the view?"

 

Craig joined Kathleen looking out over the city. It was beautiful, peaceful. But soon, the air was filled with moans and groans coming in from the atrium. Kathleen began to blush, and quickly stepped back and closed the doors to the outside.

 

"That's enough air for tonight, I guess."

 

"Are John and Jane planning to marry?"

 

"I don't know, but official or not, I think they're together for life. I can't imagine them parting now."

 

"I can remember thinking the same about us."

 

Kathleen bit her lip and nodded sadly.

 

"I'm just down the hall. Goodnight."

 

Kathleen quietly slipped away from Craig, not even looking back at him. She couldn't face this right now. If she let the past wash over her with released emotions, they might wind up doing something they would regret. She had to be alone right now.

 

~~~~~

 

Nicky and Damon had gone to her room. They settled on the couch and began making out. Their kissing was intense, and both had hands wandering. Nicky's shirt was open to her navel, and untucked. Damon had a hand on her thigh pushing her skirt along ahead of it. He was kissing the crook of her neck, and Nicky was losing control. She knew they should stop, but it felt so good.

 

"Damon?"

 

"Huh?"

 

'We can't."

 

"Can't what?"

 

"We should stop now, while we still can."

 

Damon sank back against the couch. They sat there regaining their breath.

 

"Do you want me to leave?" Damon asked Nicky.

 

"No…but we can't…you know. I'm not ready, besides, this house is crawling with parental types. Jane would kill me, and John would kill you, and can't you just hear the speech from Kathleen and Craig…'Did you learn nothing from our story!!'…"

 

"I know. The consequences are too great."

 

Nicky and Damon talked on. They held each other and kissed some, but sleep took them while they cuddled on her bed. They slept the night in each other's arms, innocently.

 

~~~~~

 

In the morning, Damon awoke holding Nicky, and quickly realized how compromising this could look. He shook Nicky awake.

 

"Oh, shoot. Damon, they can't find you here."

 

"I know."

 

"This is bad, really bad."

 

"Wait, I can climb back to my room by going outside through the balcony."

 

"Is your balcony door unlocked?"

 

"Damn…wait, after I leave, you go to my room, and let me in before anyone knows."

 

"Do you think it will work?"

 

"I hope so - see ya in a few."

 

With that, Damon stepped out onto the balcony and began to climb the wall like John had showed him.

 

~~~~~

 

Nicky straightened her clothes, and slowly headed for Damon's room. She looked both ways down the hall, and then carefully turned the knob. She looked over her shoulder as she walked in, assuming the room would be safe if she could get in. She turned back, and was face to face with Jane. Jane did not look happy. John stood on the balcony leaned against the railing, keeping Damon from going back outside.

 

"Ah, hi Jane, I was just coming to see Damon…"

 

"Uh-huh," Jane answered. Her face was stern.

 

"Jane, nothing happened, not that it would be any of your concern if it had."

 

Nicky knew the moment the words were out of her mouth that she would be sorry.

 

"Nicky."

 

"Jane, come on, I'm in college - if I recall right you went all the way the night of your senior prom."

 

"Yeah, and I spent the next three weeks hoping I hadn't made a huge mistake.

 

From behind them they heard, "I think this is a private conversation - "

 

It was Damon, but a look from both Jane and John closed his mouth.

 

"Nicky, you're with me - John? You got him, right?"

 

John nodded.

 

Jane bullied Nicky out the door.

 

"Jane, I know better than that."

 

"Then why did John have to save Damon from falling after he crawled along the edge of the building and nearly lost his footing? The boy just meets both birth parents, and if not for John's hearing, he'd -"

 

"Is he Ok?" A worried Nicky asked.

 

"Thanks to John. You are damn lucky John has the hearing of jungle predator. He was about to learn first hand how a body in motion tends to stay in motion. God, what were you thinking, keeping him in your room all night? How will this look to Craig, and Kathleen. Nicky!"

 

"Jane he fell asleep. I told him we shouldn't, so we talked, and held each other. We fell asleep."

 

"Then why have him sneak out?"

 

"Because we were trying to avoid this," she said flailing her arms.

 

"Nicky, I can see you're getting serious with Damon. Do you want to discuss birth control?"

 

"Jane!"

 

"Look, you're my little sister, and I don't think you're ready for sex, but if you do, I want you to be prepared. I'll go with you if you want."

 

Nicky was blushing.

 

"I'd like that," Nicky said in the shyest voice Jane had ever heard from her sister.

 

~~~~~

 

Within Damon's room, John stood with Damon.

 

"Are you gonna hurt me?" Damon asked.

 

"No, why?"

 

"Jane sounded really angry."

 

"It was more concern…You and Nicky - "

 

"Nothing happened, I swear," he said, putting his hands up defensively.

 

"But you want her as your mate."

 

Damon wasn't sure how to respond.

 

"I understand. It was the same with me and Jane. She needed to be ready first."

 

"So, you're not mad?"

 

"For what? You are following nature. It calls you to be with Nicky."

 

John slipped back out the window, and Damon followed to look at what he was doing.

 

"First, you must learn to climb better," John said back at him, "I will continue teaching you."

 

It was not what Damon expected.

 

~~~~~

 

Breakfast was a little strained. Nicky and Damon sat across from each other, each with a private chaperone to their side. Kathleen could read Jane by now, and knew something had happened, but if it was just between the sisters, Kathleen didn't wish to interfere. Craig wondered if he was the cause of the uneasiness.

 

After breakfast, Kathleen spotted Jane and Nicky in the foyer preparing to leave for somewhere.

 

"Anything I can help with?" Kathleen asked, hoping to learn what had befallen their breakfast.

 

"Just some errands - sister stuff," Jane deflected. Telling Kathleen that she was preparing her sister to have sex with the woman's son seemed not wise.

 

"OK. Have fun."

 

They slipped out the door, and when they reached the car, Nicky finally spoke.

 

"Thanks for not telling Kathleen."

 

"And how do you think she'd react to me saying 'oh, nothing, just taking Nicky to Planned Parenthood so she'll be ready should she and your son want to take things all the way'."

 

Jane immediately realized the tone with which she said that was just going to make Nicky feel guilty.

 

"I'm sorry…Nicky, you weren't there when mom gave me "the talk". It was the day after I was sure I wasn't pregnant, so I wasn't really receptive, and mom clearly didn't want to be there. She didn't give me options, she told me I was not to have sex until I was married, and there was no point in arguing with her. She made me feel small and dirty. She would freak out if she knew I was getting you birth control."

 

"She didn't have "the talk" with you until you were a senior?"

 

"Face it, mom lives in a fantasy world when it comes to sex. I just want you to have all the facts, and the protection for when you think the time is right."

 

Jane reached out and patted Nicky's arm, and smiled reassuringly at her.

 

"Thanks sis."

 

~~~~~

 

When they arrived home, Nicky went quickly to her room with a small pharmacy bag. She tucked the contents to the bottom of her underwear drawer, and pushed the drawer shut, looking left and right as if she expected prying eyes. There were only two people in the house who knew the contents were a box of condoms and Nicky's birth control patches. Both Jane and Nicky wanted to keep it that way.

 

As she left her room, she ran into Damon. It was the first chance to talk alone since they had been caught.

 

"You appear to be in one piece," Nicky half joked. "What did John do? What did he say?"

 

"He said I must wait until you are ready, and that I should learn to climb better."

 

"He wasn't mad?"

 

"Not really."

 

"That's strange. He's so protective. Did you know he followed us on our first date? He heard Jane worrying and wanted to make sure I came home safe, so John tracked us back from the movie until we got home. I can't believe he was so nice about this."

 

"Maybe I have passed his tests. Remember how he said something about my smell being familiar, and that it made sense after learning I was Kathleen's son? Perhaps he could smell that we didn't…do…anything. How did it go with your sister?"

 

"I got the lecture - the 'mom' lecture," Nicky rolled her eyes. "Sometimes…" Nicky shook her head slowly thinking about 'mom 2' also known as Jane, "But we worked everything out."

 

"Good."

~~~~~

 

Over the following week, John continued to worry about Richard being alone in the jungle. The thought of going back to where he lost his parents, and his ape mother as well, was inviting to John right now. So much 'family' interaction was going on around him that he began to remember what it was that his life had lacked. He wondered if he could find that by going to the Congo, finding the place where his life changed forever. Jane could sense the aloof moments, and she was pretty sure she knew what John was talking about. It did not completely surprise her when one night as they prepared for bed, John told her of his plans.

 

"I am going."

 

"Going where?"

 

"I'm going back - I'm going to find Richard."

 

"John! Why?"

 

"I need to do this. Please do not try to stop me. It is not just about him. It is about my parents. It is the right thing to do."

 

Jane had gone cold to the touch. She was very worried about John's decision, but she knew she would not change his mind.

 

~~~~~

 

Kathleen's plane took John and Damon to the airstrip nearest to where the crash had occurred. It was only packed dirt runways, no tower, in fact, only one building in the immediate area. It was quite different than the strip in New Jersey they left from, but just as desolate.

 

The door to the plane opened, and John took in a lung-full of Congolese air. It was filled with memories. John seemed to draw strength from it, but his face was pensive.

 

"What troubles your mind?" Damon asked his cousin.

 

"The memories are strong."

 

Damon simply nodded at John's words. John stood and pulled a bag from under his seat. He unzipped it, and with great reverence, took a leather sheath and its enclosed dagger from within. It was not the same weapon that had saved him countless times from both predator and hunger, for that was lost when John had been shot during his "rescue", but it was identical - a companion piece that John had found among his father's things in Clayton Manor. Damon watched the nearly ceremonial way John inspected the blade. His eyes grew fierce, but he pressed them shut until the tide ebbed. John returned the weapon to its leather home, and strapped it to his thigh just below his left hip.

 

From a deep violet velvet pouch John poured his locket. It now bore both the picture of John with his parents, and Jane. He smiled at the pictures, snapped it shut, placed a quick kiss on the casing, and slipped the thong that held it swiftly over his head.

 

John now had his talismans in place. They were all he needed for this trip, and would protect him from whatever they faced. Damon, too, would travel light, but not so light as John. Damon donned a small backpack that held his take-alongs. In it was a small knife, a box of spearmint altoids, a travel toothbrush, and a small supply of energy bars. The added bonus was the bladder built into this small bag, so it also carried enough water for both men to remain hydrated until they reached the first clear stream.

 

They nodded to each other at the completion of their preparations. The pilot came back from the cockpit.

 

"Don't worry, the plane will be waiting for you. Good luck."

 

With those words, the pilot stepped out onto the dirt and headed for the one small building. John and Damon followed out the door, and began their walk. The two people who had been hurt the most by Richard's machinations were headed to find him. They were better men than he, it was clear.

 

~~~~~

 

John had used the atrium to train Damon as best he could, but the real jungle was far more difficult. They had stayed to the ground so far since they had yet to reach the dense, strong trees John had known throughout his youth.

 

The area was strangely devoid of animals, a sure sign something was not right about this place. John could not figure it. Perhaps time in the city had diminished his skills, or at the very least, altered them. For months he was attuned only to the scent of Jane, and the warning signals that flashed to the scent of anything Greystoke.

 

Then he caught wind of it - a fresh kill not far. John's nose hairs curled at the scent at first. There was a time when such a smell would fuel his hunger, but not now.

 

"Up," John said as he nodded in reverse.

 

He and Damon began to climb. The trees were bigger and stable in the area they now entered. Under John's watchful eye, he and Damon began to travel above the ground. John led them away from the kill, never telling Damon what had prompted him to chose now for the time to go up. He knew Damon would not question his motives, but would simply follow.

 

After three more hours, and impending darkness, John was on the lookout for a place to spend the night. No motel 6, but the crotch of two strong limbs 20 feet or more in the air would do nicely. John found suitable accommodations for both, and when they both safely reached the tree, John sat.

 

"We stay here until morning."

 

Damon let out a deep breath, relieved. The adrenaline had left Damon almost 2 miles back, but he was not about to complain. He had to do a great deal of convincing before John even considered letting him come. Jane and Nicky had vehemently protested their men risking so much for Richard. Both feared this separation, and possible confrontation with Richard they could face, but John was determined to go and Damon continued to prove himself in John's eyes as they trained in the atrium.

 

Damon slithered to a branch, and found the straw that led to the water bladder on his back. He quenched his thirst, and breathed deeply.

 

"Thirsty?" he asked John. John nodded and Damon passed the end of the straw to John. He sucked in a long drink, then handed it back to Damon.

 

John gathered a length of vine and strung it tautly around the vee-ed branches of the tree.

 

"What's that for?" Damon inquired.

 

"Sleeping," John replied.

 

"Oh, right."

 

"I will build mine when your is done."

 

"Can I help?"

 

John flashed a smile at Damon and began the instruction.

 

"Pull long vines, don't cut them."

 

Damon watched John quickly wrap vines and lash them around. He had woven what looked like a rope hammock in no time. He moved so quickly that Damon felt like he was standing still and in the way. John showed him how to make the vines keep from separating, and allowed him to tie off some ends, but John did most of the work.

 

"We sleep now. Up here, most of the danger is out of reach."

 

John had never shared this experience before. In the jungle he was always devoid of human companionship. He was glad to be sharing this tree with his cousin - his brother in spirit. John settled quickly. He knew what lay ahead, and knew he needed to be alert and ready. Damon felt out of his element, but exhaustion won out, his body taking the sleep it needed.

 

~~~~~

 

Morning brought many more miles to them. When they set out, John was careful to stay close to his cousin. John was pushing the pace. If he were alone, his pace would have been nearly double, but he did not wish to make Damon feel as if he were slowing them down. John could feel the pull of the last place he and his parents were together alive. They stopped briefly by the clear stream they encountered in their path. John tested the water for contaminants. He could find nothing wrong with the water, so he allowed Damon to refill the bladder.

 

Now they again took to the trees. For a long time, the two of them were able to transfer from limb to limb by simply walking out from one tree and into the next, but it changed quickly. John and Damon came to a great chasm in the trees. They could have climbed down, walked to the next stand of trees, and climbed back up, but John had other plans.

 

John freed a vine long enough to cross the chasm and let it hang free. John measured back five steps and charged out the length of the branch, heading for the dangling vine. One, two, three, four, five, leap - John took the vine in one hand and swung. His hair flowed out behind him, as did his legs, as he seemed to fly across the space. Damon watched in awe as John easily landed on the opposing branch.

 

"John?"

 

"Your turn."

 

"I can't do that!"

 

"Yes you can, just try!"

 

John threw the vine back across chasm.

 

"You have the strength," John encouraged.

 

Damon raised an eyebrow in disbelief. It caused John to smile.

 

"Come on," John said with a wave toward himself.

 

Damon took a deep breath, gave John a 'you better be right' glare, and stepped back along the branch so he could get a running start. One, two, three, four, five, leap - Damon grabbed the vine in both hands. He wobbled as he crossed the deep drop, like a football going end over end instead of a nice spiral.

 

"Whoa - oh - oh - oh," Damon yelled, fearing for his life as he whipped through the air. He had no sense of how to stop his momentum any more than he had control of the swing. He saw John getting closer and bigger - and fast!

 

"Look out!" Damon yelled.

 

John didn't move. He put his hands out to receive his hurtling cousin. He let Damon swing over the limb, and then bear hugged him to stop his movement. Damon was shaking like a leaf and despite being on solid footing now, the vine seemed to be attached to his hands.

 

"It will get easier," John matter-of-fact-ed, and turned to get back to the pace.

 

"Wait," Damon called out, still catching his breath and steadying his nerves. The fear was fading, but the exhilaration was still keeping his heart beating rapidly.

 

"We must keep going," John told him.

 

"I know…" he panted, bent over elbows to knees, "but, could ya wait a minute?"

 

"We need to go to get to the clearing before nightfall. I know a place where we can safely spend the night."

 

"Just lemme get a drink, OK?"

 

John stopped and leaned against the trunk of the tree they were in. He watched Damon suck down a large quantity of water, and found himself unconsciously licking his lips. He realized his throat was parched. Damon noticed the forlorn look on John's face and slipped the back pack with the bladder off his shoulders.

 

"Heads up," Damon said, tossing the pack to John. He pulled the bag out of the air and took a deep drink. Damon slowly strode toward John's position. John handed the bag back to him and he donned it, tightening the straps back down.

 

"Ready?" John asked.

 

"Yeah."

 

They moved on, walking out one set of limbs and in the next.

 

They encountered several more chasms on this route. John eased across them all, and Damon gained confidence with each swing. John still had to stop him with a catch, but Damon found he was enjoying the feeling of flying high between jungle trees. John could see the growing ease with which Damon handled the vine, and he was proud of the skill Damon had so easily picked up.

 

~~~~~

 

Again the night fell. They reached the intended stopping point after swinging across a raging river. John found several platforms he had constructed still intact. He tested them for stability and found them still sturdy. It made John proud that something he built had survived and was still suitable for use.

 

Again, Damon was relieved to be stopping. John's pace was fast for Damon, and he was utterly spent as he slumped to his platform to rest. After a long drink, Damon shifted to his back and took deep, slow breaths. The smells of the jungle made his nose tingle. They were intense and intoxicating.

 

"You smell the flowers and the trees," John stated, leaning his head toward Damon.

 

"Yeah, it's really amazing…John? How close are we?"

 

"If we keep our pace, we should reach it by high sun tomorrow."

 

"Do you think Richard will still be alive?"

 

"I am not certain. This is a tough place - you need cunning and skill. Richard is not used to doing for himself - he is used to others doing for him."

 

"Yeah, but maybe he created a board of directors with the animals," Damon laughed.

 

John smiled sheepishly.

 

They shared some fruit John had gathered and they settled down for the night.

 

~~~~~

 

When Damon awoke in the morning he was alone. He sat and looked around.

 

"John?"

 

There was no answer. Damon caught a whiff of smoke and instantly became alarmed.

 

"John?" His voice cracked in fear.

 

"Come down," he heard from below.

 

Damon peered off the platform and spied a naked, wet cousin approaching a small fire. John shook from the top down to dry himself and slipped his thin tan pants up and secured them.

 

Now along with the smell of smoke, Damon could detect a delicious aroma wafting upward.

 

John had taken an early morning dip in the pool formed off the rushing river. He found several large fish eating the succulent plants in that pool, and as his stomach was feeling the need to be filled, he grabbed one in each hand and threw them up onto the bank. He finished his swim, took the fish back to the base of the tree with the platforms, and using his knife, gutted and filleted the pair. He skewered them with criss-crossed twigs to stand them above the flames and allowed them to cook until they were soft and flaky.

 

Damon found a vine and used it as support to climb to the ground. He licked his lips as he saw the breakfast John had prepared.

 

"We need the strength from real food, so I caught us a meal."

 

"Smells good."

 

John took two large palm leaves. Onto each he placed one fish. He handed one to Damon. Damon sat cross-legged on the ground and waited for the fish to cool enough to eat. John stayed crouched as he too waited for the meal to cool.

 

John's hair dripped into the fire causing a rhythmic hissing. John mentally noted to douse the fire. It wasn't something he would forget, but he wanted to be sure in his own mind.

 

It was a good meal. They left no trace of it behind. They even burned the palms they had used as plates so as not to attract animals to the scent. Once they were ashes, John dug up the dirt and scattered it heavily over the fire, smothering it.

 

They set off on foot. John knew where he was with certainty now. This was his domain - his jungle. He had to fight the impulse to run full speed, great each tree and animal. It was only a few miles to the center of his territory, the wreck. With each restrained step, John felt more nervous. The last time he and Richard were both in this jungle, John took a bullet, and his life was forever changed. But if not for that, Jane would not be in his life - nor Damon for that matter.

 

John had to stop, set one knee down, and both hands. He had to calm his breathing, compose himself. Damon stood to John's side, wondering about his decision to accompany John.

 

John slowly stood, his breathing now normal.

 

"Are you OK?" Damon asked.

 

"I will be fine. There are many memories here."

 

Damon nodded in understanding.

 

"We go forward," John asserted.

 

At a much slower pace, they moved on. John kept letting his fingers fall to the hilt of the knife on his thigh. John sniffed the air. Something odd caught his notice. Again, the lack of animals in the area was odd. This place had been so full of life during his years here - what had happened?

 

"Do you smell that?" John asked of his cousin.

 

"What?"

 

"It is musky, pungent - a bit acrid."

 

Damon sniffed.

 

"Yeah, but it's faint - what is it?"

 

"I do not know - it is not normal for here."

 

John followed his nose, and Damon followed John. It led in a direct line, headed straight for the wreck. That alone heightened John's ill-at-ease feeling. The smell was more repulsive the stronger it became.

 

~~~~~

 

They rested. John had become silent, focused. All the possibilities danced in his mind. Damon could see the change that had come over him - he was far closer to feral than Damon had ever seen him.

 

"John?" Damon dared.

 

"Grrowwll."

 

"Um, are we close?" Damon gulped.

 

John nodded.

 

"Sh-should we wait until…until you calm down?"

 

John was crouched again, ready to spring. He clasped the locket around his neck and closed his eyes. He lifted his lids and opened the metal carapace to reveal the pictures within. There his parents, and five year old John, and Jane's smiling face, looked back at him. Those were his reasons for being here now. They would bring him back. Jane's eyes sparkled even in a picture. Her love shone through, and John could feel it.

 

~~~~~

 

In Clayton Manor, Kathleen, Jane, and Nicky shared a quiet dinner. The normally lively dinner conversations were replaced by worried looks and fears best left unsaid. They all knew. It would have taken three days for them to reach the drop off point, and after that, who knows until they would reach the crash site.

 

"Please, somebody say something. I can't take the silence any more!" Nicky lamented.

 

Jane covered her sister's hand with her own.

 

"I'm sorry, Nick, without them here…" Jane's voice fell off into a sigh.

 

They heard footsteps and voices heading to the dining room.

 

"Sam, Craig, I’m glad to see you," Kathleen greeted, getting a kiss from Craig.

 

"Hey partner," Sam said to Jane, "at least you eat one meal. I haven't seen you take down so much as a saltine since John left."

 

"Jane?" Kathleen asked.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Sam's right. You haven't had breakfast in days, you, um, aren't…hiding anything from us, are you?"

 

"Like what?"

 

Nicky raised her eyebrows and gave Jane that look.

 

"You think…hey, John and I have been careful, well, I've been careful. I'm not pregnant. Anyway, there's no way I'm ready to be…Can we change the topic please?"

 

"Ooh hoo, thank god, 'cause I don't need the raging hormones changin' your gut feelings," Sam started. "Last thing I need is to have you yelling stop or I'll puke at our suspects."

 

Jane smiled at Sam, and stood to give him a punch on the arm.

 

"Yeah? Well, when John and I decide to have kids, you will be dealing with all of that and more."

 

"Oh, please lord, let me be retired before you get yourself in a family way," Sam said rolling his eyes.

 

Sam brought a dose of much needed life into the manor. He knew how worried all the women of the house were, and he was the self appointed get their minds off it guy. He had even forged a friendship with Craig, though he was a bit jealous about losing his best girl. He had entertained a fantasy about some day he and Kathleen, but even if she didn't see it, he did - she would always be in love with Craig, and now that he was back, there was no doubt they would find their way back together. Damon going with John not only gave them time alone to get reacquainted, it gave them a common thing to worry about. They were growing closer.

 

~~~~~

 

John's purpose was redefined. He must not let that inner beast, the man who lived as beast, out again - unless he needed to protect himself, or Damon, or even Richard, should they find him. It was clear now. He had allowed himself to be overwhelmed by the place, the feelings, his past. He was prepared now.

 

John clicked the locket shut and let it fall against his chest on the thong that held it. He slowly drew himself up. He took a deep breath as he reached full height. He hung his head.

 

"I am sorry," he said. "I…"

 

"Do not worry."

 

It was the last time they would speak of the incident.

 

John sniffed the air to pick up the trail - it seemed to have shifted some, but it was still generally in the same direction. They moved out. John did not speak - he felt a guilt for coming so close to losing himself. Guilt had never been a part of his life here. He would not have survived, but since living in the city, it was a feeling that was imposed upon him more and more frequently. He was made to feel he had done wrong simply because he followed the rules that had kept him alive. Richard was a master of this, but Jane and Kathleen did it too. He knew Jane and Kathleen meant nothing by it - it was just innate behavior, but Richard had a pointed purpose. It was meant to break him.

 

Now guilt had become a part of him. He felt bad when his temper flared. He felt bad when Jane gave him that look, or when Kathleen gently shook her head. This time he had even scared himself, and that made him feel really bad.

 

~~~~~

 

Since their pace had slowed due to John's need to reign in his surging feelings, high sun came and went and still they had not reached the crash. It was a good thing that John had made them such a fine filling meal to start the day. As John walked through these familiar places, they seemed smaller. Perhaps he was still seeing them though the eyes of the child who first looked upon them. Though he was in the jungle until manhood, those first impressions had been strong, and they were the ones that were surfacing now. It was like he was walking back in time as he went deeper into the territories that would have marked his earliest times in the jungle.

 

John and Damon took a break in mid afternoon. They were both sticky with sweat. Damon emptied his water bladder while John crouched and scooped water with his hands from the stream that seemed to gain its color from John's eyes. Such an expanse of that color was breathtaking. Damon had never seen water look so inviting. While Damon stood transfixed by it, John moved down stream a bit and began to climb a familiar tree. He reached a platform hidden in the foliage at least ten meters up. He tested several ropes for strength, and smiled as they were still strong enough. He stripped down, walked to the edge of the platform, and gauged distance, wind drag, factoring his muscle's increased strength since the last time he had done this. He would start easy, just to make sure he wound up in the water and not the shore.

 

John took several steps back and grabbed a rope. He put his arms above his head, taking the rope in each hand, and he launched himself. As he cleared the platform, he released the rope, tucked his arms around his body, and got his body to spiral. He shot into the water like a drill bit, biting through with ease. Damon stood awestruck by what John had just done.

 

"Wow."

 

John just got out of the water and climbed the tree again. This time Damon's eyes followed him up and up and up to the platform in the clouds. He couldn't believe how high John climbed, or that he had jumped off it moments before. He had only seen a person dive from that height as part of the Olympics, and even then it left him in awe. This time John left the ropes alone. He stepped to the edge, letting his toes bend over the edge of the platform. He flexed them several times. John coiled for strength, and urged his body over the edge with great force. His body folded in half, his legs held in a straight pike position, as he did one, two, three, four revolutions, and still had time to straighten out to make a total rip entry. Damon ran to where John had entered the water.

 

"That was amazing," Damon exclaimed as John came to the surface, shook the water from his hair, and got out of the water.

 

"Do you realize how long some people train to be able to do what you just did? In fact, I don't think anyone has been able to do a quadruple in the pike position. Do you know what you just did?"

 

"I am out of practice. I once was able to do many more circles before reaching the water, but I was smaller then."

 

Damon couldn't believe it. John could be Olympic champion, and to him, that was not his best effort.

 

"Come up. You can try too."

 

"Oh no. I may be able to walk on trees, swing from one to another, but jumping out of them is not for me."

 

John just stood looking at Damon. Damon had crossed his arms on his chest and was shivering with his eyes closed as he imagined the fall from up that tree. He was lost in his thoughts of the horror. John sped toward Damon, threw him over his shoulder, and began to climb to the platform. He was going to jump with Damon to show him it was not only safe but fun, however, Damon wriggled free just as John got him to the top.

 

"No way," Damon yelled.

 

John just smirked.

 

"You think this is funny? If I land wrong I could break my neck."

 

"You thought the same about swinging."

 

"This not the same. All I had to worry about is not letting go with rope swinging. This is all about letting go."

 

"Yes, it is."

 

John turned and jumped again, this time doing a simple dive straight into the water. He was majestic in the air, and as he cut through the surface of the water, there was no splash. Damon stood looking down to see John resurface. When John didn't come right up Damon began to worry. He was sure John hit the bottom and made himself about six inches tall, like a car in a crusher, or he was unconscious. Something horrible had befallen him, and Damon was alone in the jungle with no clue how to get home.

 

"Come on, John. Pop up. Anything!" Damon yelled.

 

He looked down the tree John had carried him up. Climbing down would be almost as dangerous as jumping into the water. If he was going to help John, he had to get down fast. There was only one way. Damon quickly divested himself of his clothing, moved to the edge, took a deep breath. He jumped off the platform, tucked himself into a tight ball, and let gravity take him. It was as if his heart and mind stopped until he hit the water. When he bobbed to the surface, whole body stinging from the way he chose to go into the water, he began to yell, "John" and look around. He had never been more scared that he might be alone.

 

"John, please, where are you?"

 

"I'm here," John simply said, crouched on the shore.

 

"You did that on purpose," Damon yelled, "Every inch of me hurts."

 

"Yes, but you did not die. That is all that matters."

 

Damon made his way to the banks and crawled onto terra firma, gasping for air, certain he had broken something based on the pain he was in.

 

John climbed again. He dropped his and Damon's clothes over the edge, and made one last jump. Damon just watched in awe. By the time John had gotten out of the water this time, Damon had calmed down. He realized what John was trying to show him. There are many things one is capable of if they allow themselves to believe. John had put into practice something he had heard his father say time and time again. Fear was holding him back. First the vine swinging, and now the diving. John pushed him because he knew Damon was capable. Damon took one last dip into the water to clean the grime from his crawl out of the water last time. They both dressed in silence while Damon tried to think what to say. Damon refilled the water bladder in his bag upstream from where they had been in the water.

 

~~~~~

 

"John, I'm sorry I got so angry with you."

 

"Do not worry about it."

 

"I get what you were doing. My father always told me I let my fear get in the way of trying new things."

 

"But you wanted to come with me here. That was a bold choice. One you had to talk me into allowing."

 

"I just knew I had to come."

 

John smiled at Damon, nodding.

 

"We are almost there."

 

~~~~~

 

John and Damon entered the place where the Cessna had left its scar on the jungle. It was just beginning to get dark, and John could smell that acrid but sickly sweet smell that had wafted through the jungle and alarmed him earlier. In the distance, the rusted frame of the Cessna sat on the jungle floor. Though it had been over 20 years since the fuel had leaked and burned the plant life here, it was still a big brown spot. The caustic nature of the chemicals had left the ground stripped of its ability to support plant life. The Cessna was like a big scab that sat central in an even bigger bruise on the land.

 

John sniffed. The smell was growing stronger again, and tiny firelights twinkled from within the fuselage. John turn to show Damon the finger held across his lips, meaning to keep silent. It was followed by a palm held firm - Damon was to stay. John crept closer with all deliberate stealth. He came around to the open side of the plane, and saw a semi-circle of candles. As he got closer, he also saw Richard. But this was not Richard as he knew him. He was filthy, barefoot, and his beard was at least six inches below his chin. Richard lifted his head, his mouth wide open. The flames flickered from the breeze he created.

 

John now stood proud.

 

"Richard," he said loud enough to be heard.

 

The broken man turned his head, and his dead eyes soon became watery.

 

"John? You came?" his parched voice whispered as he worked to get out of the position he was in. He got to the edge of the opening in the plane and toppled out onto the ground. John moved toward him, but Richard managed to get on his knees before John reached him. He reached up and pulled himself part way up using John's body as his handhold.

 

"My brother, I knew you would still be here. You have to know, I never meant for this to happen. The plane was supposed to turn back," Richard continued.

 

"Richard," John again calmly said.

 

"No, please, let me tell. I have to let you know," Richard cried in desperation.

 

John nodded, granting Richard this right. He seemed so…lost.

 

"I was assured the plane would make it back to the last fuel stop. I never meant to kill you. I would never do that, you must know. I loved you, and John Jr. - he was all my hope. I knew we would never be as whole people as the boy had a chance to be - not with our father. He was the hope for the future. You knew not to treat him the way father did, and you married an angel! Please forgive me!"

 

Richard's words degenerated to sobs as he slid back down, his arms around John's legs. He was out flat, crying and begging for forgiveness.

 

Damon listened from the growing darkness, understanding what was just dawning on John - Richard thought he was talking to his brother John! Richard was now incoherent, babbling, lost inside his own mind. John stepped out of the circle of Richard's arms, and moved to Damon.

 

"He thinks I am my father."

 

"Yeah. You do look enough like your dad - the portrait in Kathleen's house. He must think you are him, come to absolve his sins."

 

"He did something to the plane. He is why it crashed."

 

"That's what I got too," Damon nodded.

 

"Why would he do that?"

 

"Maybe he will tell you."

 

John just nodded.

 

"JOHN! JOHN! PLEASE DON'T GO YET! PLEASE?"

 

John returned to where Richard was.

 

"I am here."

 

"Oh, thank you, thank you. I have waited here for you. You have to know."

 

'What must I know?"

 

"I just wanted you to leave little John home instead of taking him on every trip. I wanted you to trust me with him. The trouble with the plane was supposed to make you think twice about taking him along. That's all. I wanted more time with that light of the family. You don't know! I know you always marveled that in all my dalliances I never fathered a child. You don't know how this ate me up! I knew I was never to father a child. John was the closest I would ever get!! You were the fair-haired boy. Father's favorite! He made sure only you would carry the line forward. I was born with a defect. Father could have had his doctors correct it, but I know the truth now! He was sadistic. Instead of correcting what was wrong, enabling me to have children one day, he had the doctors do just the opposite!! He had me sterilized. He took away my chance. He took away my future before my life had even begun!"

 

John looked toward Damon, hoping for an understanding of all these words. Damon felt drawn to John, and felt such pity for the broken man Richard was now. As he came into the tiny bit of light, and his face was revealed from the darkness that surrounded them, Richard recoiled, clawing backward toward the Cessna.

 

"No…I didn't kill you! You…you can't be dead too! I can't have that! Please, you must forgive me for what I did to you and my sister. My Kathleen. How I hurt her. But she did not know my pain. I moved the earth to find the missing next generation. And she wasn't even trying, and she gets a child? It wasn't fair! My teenage sister has the heir to the Greystoke fortune with the boy she let break the seal on her womanhood! I could not bear it! John, Jr. had to be found, had to be alive! It was the only way the name of Clayton would live! I had to make that child disappear, and you too," Richard said, pointing at Damon.

 

John and Damon looked at each other. He had mistaken them both for their fathers. Both John and Damon were sickened by what Richard was admitting to doing. He was so shallow that if he couldn't have a kid, and he couldn't have John, Jr. to raise and mold into the future executive, he would not allow his sister to have the heir either. He would rather ruin every relationship within his remaining family than allow his failures to surface. He had failed to find John Jr., he had failed to keep Kathleen healthy and pure until she was presented to New York society, and paired with a suitable young man - one with standing! He failed to keep Greystoke Industries at the top of the business world. He was exactly what his father had thought he would be - a failure.

 

"I failed…I failed. You were right father. I didn't deserve to have children, I didn't deserve to have anything. I shouldn't be allowed to live."

 

Richard charged to his feet and came at both John and Damon.

 

"Change places with me. Make it all right. Change the past! Raise your son. No one will miss me. Take my life!"

 

As he made this plea, he remembered the feeling of death in his hands. The bone shattering snap. It clicked over and over again in his ears. He fell silent, trapped in that memory that sparked this whole thing for him. His blank eyes looked at John and then Damon.

 

"Hello? Do I know you?"

 

John was puzzled.

 

"Hi! I'm Dicky," Richard said in a childlike tone, "I'm lost. Can you get me home?"

 

Damon stepped up.

 

"Yes, we came to take you home," Damon told him.

 

~~~~~

 

John and Damon settled Richard into the plane to sleep. His brain decided the way to deal was not to deal, but now John and Damon had to deal with the demons he released before he lost himself. They climbed on top of the wreckage, and sat there in silence for a long time, each absorbing what they had heard this night. Richard's words had been brutally honest. If only John fully understood all of what Richard had told him.

 

"Could you explain something to me?" John asked his cousin.

 

"I'll try."

 

"He spoke of what his father did to him. What did that mean - 'sterilize'?"

 

"It means Richard was made incapable of fathering a child of his own."

 

"Why would his father do that to him?"

 

"I do not know. It makes no sense. I have often found those with power will do odd things. They never seem to ask should I. All they care about is that they can do these things."

 

"I feel sorry for him. But I still think what he did is bad. He caused me to lose my parents, and he took you from yours. There is no way I can forgive that."

 

"I think his own mind could no longer forgive his deeds."

 

Again they were silent for a while, pondering.

 

"John?"

 

John looked up and faced Damon.

 

"I was wondering, we haven’t seen any animals since we got here. That doesn't seem right."

 

"I have wondered myself. All the life in the place seems to be gone. I have never heard a more quiet night in this jungle. It makes me worry for the families, the animals who should be teaching their young to hunt and forage. At first I thought it was that smell - whatever Richard was burning in there."

 

"Incense," Damon informed.

 

"But that alone could not make this place so empty. I thought at first light I would climb the tallest tree to look all around here. I should be able to see to the lake. If that too has no life, I fear this part of the jungle is dying."

 

They both sadly nodded.

 

"We need to sleep."

 

"I'll keep watch for a while," Damon offered, "I have things to think about."

 

John nodded, and found a place to sleep. He tried. He closed his eyes. He rearranged his position, but nothing helped. Sleep would not come. He turned on his back, and stared at the sky, hoping Jane was looking upon the sky at this moment thinking of him as he thought of her. Damon noticed that John was still awake, and there was something nagging his mind that he needed to talk about.

 

"John?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"Did it seem to you that Richard just suddenly had an abrupt break down? It was like he waited to tell us just enough to hurt, and then he snapped. Does that feel right to you?"

 

John sat, and folded his legs under him.

 

"Richard has been here some time. He has had little to eat, no one to talk to, nothing to do but be alone with what is in his head. We do not know all of what is inside him. He thought both of us to be our fathers. We know he had only bad encounters with your father, and I do not remember my father enough, but Richard wanted what he had, and had no chance of it in his own life. He was willing to go to great lengths to build a family. That I do understand. Belonging is part of who we are; who we want to be. Richard wished to belong so much that he pushed too hard, and he lost all he could have had, and didn't see how life presented him another chance to nurture when you were born. He wanted only that which he had lost."

 

"You don't think he's just faking?"

 

John tilted his head curiously, wondering.

 

"Do you think Richard is just pretending to not remember, and he is just trying to have us take our guard down?"

 

"No. His eyes are as a child. He is not who he once was."

 

"I guess there are no other answers I could get from him anyway. He hated my birth father because he was able to bring a child into the world that he saw as replacing you. It is sad."

 

"Yes, it is sad."

 

John leaned back down, and tried to get comfortable to sleep.

 

"Thanks, John. It helps to talk about it."

 

"I find that too."

 

~~~~~

 

"Goodnight, John," Jane unconsciously mumbled. She knew with the time difference it probably wasn't the right time to say that, but the twinkle of the stars made her think of John's eyes when she would say 'I love you' to him. She pulled a blanket around her shoulders as she lay on the atrium balcony staring at the sky.

 

"Think of me when you see the stars sparkle. Know my love even from here."

 

~~~~~

 

When the sun came up, John woke up to the sound of Damon's snoring. He scouted the scene finding Richard still asleep in the plane, and nothing amiss in the camp. It was eerily quiet. That worried John more than anything. Something had to be wrong here. John caught that smell on the wind again. It was not coming from the plane. It was not because of anything Richard was doing. Something else was making that smell. John chose a tall tree, and began to climb. He went high enough to see out over the area where the big lake and lush growth had kept his family of apes sustained. As he surveyed outward starting where they had come from, all looked alright, but as John looked to the land ahead of them, his face fell, and in his shock, he sobbed one loud burst.

 

In the distance digging machines had cleared acres and were working on even more. The lake was gone, the lush undergrowth had been plowed away, and there were numerous tree roots exposed at the edges of this deep dug hole in the ground. John could see the blue-gray smoke billowing from the stacks on the machines. The exhaust was responsible for that sickly sweet, but acrid smell that was filling the air. John felt sick to his stomach. The heart of his jungle was gone. He mourned for yet one more loss. This place that had raised him, and all it's beauty, was being scraped away by progress. He had hoped to be able to someday show the places of his youth to Jane, or to the children he dreamed of having with her.

 

John climbed back down, crestfallen. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. Damon looked at the ghastly look on John's face.

 

"What happened?"

 

"The jungle is being taken away."

 

"What?"

 

"Machines are taking away the ground. The lake is gone. My childhood home places are no more."

 

Damon was also stunned, and he slowly sat next to where John slowly collapsed. They looked at each other as they heard several large trees fall with a thud. It wasn't that far away. They had to take what they could, and go. There would be no returning to this place.

 

~~~~~

 

When Richard woke, Damon gave him one of his energy bars, and water to keep him replenished. He was like a five-year-old. John remembered what it was really like to live here as a five-year-old as he scoured the carcass of the plane. There was no way to extract his parents' remains from the crushed cockpit. All John did find was a small metal box strapped to the floor. He pried it open. There were a number of rusted tools. Wrenches for keeping the seats tightened down, and the like, but something was a dull gold in the bottom. John fished out whatever it was. John turned it over. It was a watch. The face was pearly off-white with gold numbers on it. A fine chain was attached to it. John traced his finger down it until he reached the body of the watch again. The back popped open, and inside it was the same picture that was in the locket. John was sure. He pulled the locket open and compared them - identical. John closed the watch's housing, and ran his finger over an engraving. His father's initials in fancy script, just like his mother's initials were on the locket. Clearly they were a pair. That was all John would find that they could take from this place.

 

~~~~~

 

There would be time to make it back to the platforms that had held them the night before they found the plane before nightfall if they left now. John took one last look around. This was where he started in the jungle, and it was where his jungle life would end as well. John released a deep breath and dropped his head in a moment of reflection.

 

"We should get going," John said aloud.

 

Damon nodded in agreement. He gathered Richard from the plane.

 

"We have to go now. It's not safe to stay any longer," Damon told the broken man.

 

"OK," Richard responded, still using a childlike voice.

 

John came to Damon and Richard with a length of vine and tied them together with Richard in the middle. It was the only way they could make time in the trees without losing Richard. If he was playing with the mind of a five-year-old, his mind and attention could wander and he would end up falling from the trees. John would not risk it.

 

They made it to the platforms shortly after dark. All were tired, and Richard complained about being hungry, tired, having bug bites, sore feet - pretty much everything. He was ten times worse then Jane was when they went to the cabin. The whining was wearing thin, and grating John's nerves.

 

"Just sleep," he told Richard in a harsh tone.

 

He balled himself up and began to cry.

 

John was sitting alone on the corner of his platform when Damon came close and sat down.

 

"I know he was getting on your nerves, but that is just how children are. He cannot help it."

 

"But he's not a child."

 

"He has the mind of one. You yourself said so."

 

"I know. I still see him as the man who hunted me down and forced me to be something I had not been in twenty years. As long as he wears that face, it will be hard for me to see anything else."

 

"I get that…And I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time. I would have liked to see more of the places you grew up in."

 

John merely nodded.

 

"We should get some sleep too. There is a lot a ground to cover, and I'd like to get home as soon as we can. I miss Jane."

 

"I miss Nicky, and I still have much catching up to do with Craig. I want to know my birth parents. I would like them to be part of my life."

 

"Kathleen loves you. She would not have felt such pain in losing you if she did not love you."

 

Damon smiled and thought about John's words. He liked having that thought in mind as he found a place to sleep for the night.

 

~~~~~

 

John got up early in the morning. He needed some time alone. He went hunting for food. While he stalked small prey, he had time alone with his thoughts. The thoughts got in the way of the hunting. John returned to his companions with fruits, berries, and several pieces of an edible tree bark. It was not what John had hoped for, but it would keep them going until they reached lake where he could catch fish for dinner. The scowl on his face told Damon things had not gone as John planned, but he kept it to himself.

 

John tied them all back together, and they were off after eating what John offered. The going was slow with Richard between them, and when they reached a chasm, John had to think about how they would get across. Richard did not have the arm strength for the swing. After trying to think of any other way, John knew he had no choice - he would have to swing with Richard on his back.

 

He untied Damon from them and used the extra rope to lash Richard to his back. He hated the idea and the feeling of Richard's arms wrapped around his shoulders, but it had to be done. After the swing, John kept Richard tied to himself while he caught Damon's swing. Damon had really gotten the hang of it, so John did not have too much to do to steady Damon on the branch.

 

It was just before nightfall when the threesome reached the platforms above the lake where John had caught those fish. John didn't waste any time. He stripped down, got into the water and hoped the fish would be here at this hour. As dusk set in, John noticed the approach of a school of tiny fish. They were like mini neon lights streaking through the water. John knew the bigger fish would come to feed on these day-glo morsels. The luminescence brightened John's face, and his eyes seemed to become two of those fish as he lowered his head so that his eyes sat just above the water line. Just as John predicted, the bigger fish came. He waited until there were several, and then got three in quick succession. Damon took them, and the knife John carried. He cut off the heads and tails, and even gutted them, but he waited for John to set up the skewers to cook them on.

 

Since it was nearly dark, Damon climbed up with Richard. It was not safe to cook and eat food on the jungle floor at night. John stayed alert near the fire they built while the fish cooked. The moment they were done, John wrapped them well in palm leaves. He put out the fire, and then climbed to their perch with the meal. They went to sleep with full bellies.

 

That night John dreamed of Jane. He saw her dressed in an ethereal gown with light washing from a window behind her. Her smiled glowed. She mouthed 'yes', and he saw himself picking her up and spinning her around. John's face smiled broadly while he slept and dreamed this.

 

~~~~~

 

Jane sat in the living room staring at the portrait of John with his parents. She could see John in the father's face. It was always strange to her that she could see a resemblance between John and Kathleen, but Richard looked as if he belonged in another family. With all the secrets this family held, Jane began to wonder if perhaps Richard's parentage was one of them.

 

Jane sighed.

 

"Thinking about John again?" Nicky asked as she entered the room.

 

"What else. During the week I can push the thoughts aside because I focus on my work, but today, on a weekend…I miss him so much."

 

"I know, and he better keep Damon safe too."

 

"Hey, Damon begged to go along, remember?"

 

"I know. I could just kill him for that. I mean, what was he thinking?"

 

Jane went to her sister and put an arm around her. She put her hand on the side of Nicky's head and pushed it down to her shoulder.

 

"We'll get through this."

 

"But we're just getting to know each other. What if he doesn't come back?"

 

"Don't think that way. Damon will come home and so will John. We will get them back."

 

"Oh no, not again. Not Porter tears," Sam quipped coming through the door.

 

"Hey Sam," Jane said, wiping the bottom of her nose with her hand.

 

"I think this calls for a pizza, my treat. Get Kathy and we'll all go. After all, I'm the only man left right now, and that means I have to keep my girls happy."

 

"Any time you pry open that wallet, I will not say no, but you are not the only man - remember Craig? Tall, grey eyes, father of Kathleen's child?"

 

"Yeah, yeah. You want me to pay or not?"

 

"I won't say another word."

 

Jane shot one last glance at the portrait and smiled. She would see that smile when John came home. She had to keep him in her heart and in her thoughts until then. Then she looked at Nicky. This was as tough on her. She missed Damon. This boy was more than someone she dated. Jane had to admit it, her sister was in love.

 

~~~~~

 

John, Richard, and Damon continued to travel roped together in a line until they emerged from the jungle by the remote airfield. John was glad to see the tall grasses part to reveal the packed dirt runways. They searched through the planes sitting off to the side for the one that would carry them home. The plane was closed and locked when they found it. Damon said he would watch Richard while John located the pilot in building. John wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and de-tangled his hair with a few brushing strokes from his fingers. He didn't want to scare anybody with his appearance.

 

Inside the building that housed all the air traffic control, arrivals and departures, John also found the cantina. It offered food, drink, and a place to meet up with a guide or pilot.

 

"Oh, here he is now," John heard a familiar voice say.

 

It was his pilot.

 

"John, I was just telling these men where you were headed - seems you are lucky. That whole area has excavation teams putting in a luxury hotel. They are building individual bungalows deep in the jungle setting."

 

"I saw," John said with disdain.

 

"But you made it back - everything alright?"

 

"I got what I came for. When can we leave?"

 

"I'll check with 'the tower'. They can give me a departure time."

 

"May I have the keys?" John asked the pilot as he began to walk away.

 

He tossed a small key ring toward John and watched John snatch them from the air. John lifted his head in a reverse nod, and then walked out of the building. He found Richard and Damon sitting below the wing for the shade. The heat of the day was more intense in the open of the airstrip. Damon was drinking from his pack, and Richard was nibbling another one of Damon's power bars.

 

John unlocked the plane and stood back as the step folded out. A blast of hot air came out of the fuselage. John opened the door on the other side and let the plane air out. The pilot soon joined them.

 

"We can take off in an hour, and then we can get you all home. Do you want to call home, tell them you're coming?"

 

"Yes," John simply stated.

 

The pilot handed John the satellite phone, and he called the manor.

 

"Hello?" he heard Kathleen's voice answer.

 

"Kathleen, we are back on the plane. We will see you soon."

 

"John! Thank god. Do you want to speak to Jane?"

 

"If she is there."

 

"Mary, fetch Jane, quickly," John heard in a muted voice. "She'll be right there."

 

"Kathleen, Damon would like to speak."

 

John handed the phone over.

 

"Damon?" Kathleen said into the receiver.

 

"Hi. We found Richard. We are bringing him home."

 

"Be careful - you cannot trust him."

 

"Do not worry, he will not hurt us."

 

"If you think, but don't let down your guard - Oh, Jane's almost here, put John back on."

 

"John?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Don't let Richard fool you. He's always more dangerous than he seems."

 

"Kathleen, he is wrong in the head -and not like before. He is like a child."

 

"OK, Jane's here."

 

"John, talk to me. Say anything. I just need to hear your voice. Are you OK?"

 

"Yes, Jane. It is good to hear your voice too."

 

"I'd like tell you what I'm going to do with you the moment you get home, but I'll wait and surprise you instead."

 

Her voice was husky and seductive, and John got a tingle down his spine. He had been away from her too long. Damon noted the smile on John's face. It started to crackle and Jane quickly blurted, "signal's fading. John, safe journey. I can't wait to see you."

 

"I love you Jane."

 

"'Uv ooh," he heard through the static, and then there was nothing but static.

 

John turned off the phone, and he looked pensive.

 

"Something wrong, John?"

 

"We got cut off."

 

"Probably sunspots. They create problems with transmission."

 

John just looked at Damon.

 

"When there are storms on the sun it makes interference for phones, TVs, radios. It's normal."

 

John just nodded to the explanation.

 

~~~~~

 

After sitting for 45 minutes, all the time the air in the plane getting cooler, the pilot did the final check. He removed the chock blocks from under the wheels, made sure all was ready for take off. They slowly taxied out of the parking place to the side of the runways. They got the fuel tanks topped off, and then moved to the center runway awaiting their signal.

 

"G-S-K-425, you are cleared to take off on runway 2-niner. The wind speed is 2 knots from the southeast. There are no storms on your planned heading. Over."

 

"G-S-K-425 set for takeoff on runway 2-niner. Thanks tower."

 

John, Damon, and Richard were all strapped into their seats. The plane moved faster and faster until it began to lift from the ground. John could feel the distance grow between them and the ground, and he gulped. Flying was not a comfortable thing for John. He'd been on one plane that crashed, one plane that had brought him back groggy with sedative, strapped down and caged, one plane that almost took him from Jane, and the flights here and back. His ears popped, and he felt confined.

 

"I am going to lay down in the back," John told Damon.

 

John settled onto one of the couches and hugged a pillow to his chest. He opened his locket and stared at Jane's picture. He would be glad to be back in her arms, and her promise of what she had planned for his return played about in his mind. He had not intended it, nor expected it in the least, but John fell asleep for over an hour. When John awoke, he found Damon teaching Richard how to play several forms of solitaire. They were doing the form called pyramid, and Damon was showing Richard which card combinations totaled 13 so he could clear the board.

 

John took a bottle of water from the small fridge and drank half of it before he screwed the lid back on. He sat at the far side of the table and watched Damon. Was it forgiveness? Or did Damon just not see the monster who had ripped him away from his true parents? The sight of Richard still filled John with rage and hatred. It oozed through his pores. He could see the fear in Richard's eyes. This was not the man who used his power to subjugate. This was a blank slate who truly did not understand why this man hated him. Richard sat closer to Damon, hoping to be protected.

 

John looked down, that feeling called guilt was attacking him. He couldn't hold onto the hatred without hating himself. John knew he had to let it go.

 

~~~~~

 

The droning hum of the engines was almost hypnotic in its regularity. John went into the restroom and turned on the light. He looked on his own face in the mirror. Dark circles under his eyes, his clothes with a reddish tint from the soil. John turned on the water and cupped it up to his face. He scruffed off the surface dirt. A life in the jungle had been all he knew for so long, but now, having only spent a couple of weeks back, he knew he could not return to that life. Even if he did not have Jane to come home to, this was no longer his world. It was being changed, corrupted by men like Richard who could not see the value in a simple life, or the natural world. More than anything, John was sad. That jungle took much from him, but it also gave him much. He shook his head as he looked into the mirror again. Nothing made sense.

 

~~~~~


	4. Shirts, No Shoes, and a Service

Mind and Heart; Body and Soul

Parts 12, 13, 14 and 15

The Native Heartbeat Quadrilogy

Part 15

"Shirts, No Shoes, and a Service"

 

After three stopovers, and what felt like an eternity in the sky on each leg of the journey, home was within John's grasp. John called home. He told Kathleen to pick them up at the airstrip they had taken off from, and to have an ambulance meet them - Richard would need help. His mind was not as it should be. The limo sat side by side with an ambulance. The plane touched down. It came to a stop and the door opened. John was out the door quickly, and while he was tired from the ordeal, his energy returned when he saw Jane running to him. She jumped up on him and he caught her, spinning her around. She bathed his face with kisses until he stilled her by holding her face in his hands. He kissed her lips and sank his head into the crook of her neck taking in a powerful breath that pulled her scent clear down into his lungs. She silently smiled at him as they pulled back from each other.

 

Kathleen was at Jane's shoulder, smiling as well. Craig was only steps behind her. Kathleen looked up as Damon and Richard stepped off the plane. She noted right away that Richard did not look right. He looked shy and scared. He was looking around like the whole world made him want to hide. She advanced anyway, hugging Damon, and then turning to her brother.

 

"Richard?"

 

"Hello."

 

"There are some people who would like to make sure you are alright. Will you come with me?"

 

"I guess."

 

Kathleen held out her hand and led Richard to the ambulance. He wouldn't let go of her hand.

 

"Where are you taking me?"

 

"It's called Bellevue. It's a hospital. You were gone for a long time, and we want to make sure everything is OK with you."

 

"I'm fine."

 

"We still need to check."

 

Kathleen tried again to withdraw, but Richard held fast.

 

"Can Damon come with me? He's my friend."

 

Damon got a hug from Craig, and a thankful smile, and then came to the ambulance doors and heard Richard's words.

 

"I'll come with you," Damon told him.

 

~~~~~

 

As the limo pulled out of the parking lot for the airport, Kathleen and Craig sat holding hands on one side while John held tightly to Jane on the other side. He didn't say much, but he clung to Jane like she was his air to breathe.

 

"John, where did you find Richard?"

 

"In the wreck, " he said through Jane's hair.

 

"What happened?"

 

"Long story," he replied.

 

"Was it how you remembered?" Craig now asked.

 

John gave them a look. It said he was close to losing it. His eyes were narrow and there seemed to be a rising tide of anger. Jane smoothed her hands down John's back gaining his gaze. He plowed his face back into her hair and whimpered. Kathleen placed a gentle hand on Craig's thigh, and they locked eyes as Kathleen slowly shook her head. There was not another word spoken until the limo pulled up in front of Clayton Manor.

 

John and Jane got out.

 

"We'll be going to Bellevue, and we'll bring Damon home. I'll tell Nicky he's home, and we will see her soon. I know she was sorry to not be able to come with us."

 

"Yes, she was, but she'll be happy to see Damon, I'm sure," Jane warmly said to Kathleen.

 

The door was pulled shut and the long black car pulled away, and disappeared into the night.

 

Jane led John into the house, up the stairs, and into the master bath in their suite. There were fresh towels laid out, and the bath gels John enjoyed the scent of. Cinnamon candles spiced the air and gave an orange glow to the room and the gold plated fixtures. Jane methodically stripped John. She unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time and let it fall to the floor. She undid his pants and pushed them to his ankles. She took his hand and he stepped forward, leaving the soiled clothing behind. Warm water was pouring into the tub and steam was filling the room. Jane now removed her clothes. John just stood there numbly. Jane noticed his disconnect from reality. Something must have happened, but there was time, and John would open up eventually.

 

Jane stroked his arm, and he looked at her. She smiled. She led him into the tub and got him to sit in the water. Jane reached over his shoulder and turned the water off. She felt him wrap his arms around her legs. He was holding on for dear life. Jane rubbed his shoulders until he relaxed his grip, and then she knelt between his knees. Jane took a washcloth and squeezed out a dime-sized amount of orange scented body gel. She worked it down his back and arms. She scrubbed his armpits too. He let her clean him from head to toes. After weeks of not bathing, she just could not get the odor out of the hair under his arms. She took her razor off the tub edge and shaved him clean. Jane next took a pair of scissors and trimmed his blond locks. There were a few tangles she had to cut out, and she evened up the ends. With the wet/dry rechargeable shaver, Jane returned John to a smooth baby face, and then stroked her fingers over the newly exposed expanse.

 

His outside was clean now, but Jane knew that just washing him was not going to take away all he had been left by this time in the jungle. She got him out of the tub, dried him off, and took him to the atrium. On the center of the floor was a woven mat. Trays of food were lined up with all John's favorites. John looked around and breathed deeply. It was like a switch had been flipped. He turned to Jane and pulled her to him as he again breathed through her hair. She stroked him, caressed him. Jane got up on her toes and kissed John repeatedly. He started to come alive in her arms. His hands ran over her body, and his mouth was seeking her juices. With a strong arm, John lifted and pinned Jane to his chest. She wrapped around his neck with her arms, one hand in his hair, the other clutching between his shoulder blades. She moaned and John went straight to her throat, sucking at the skin. He growled with a small bit of her flesh pinched between his teeth. Jane inhaled sharply.

 

"Ahh, John, what are you doing?" she panted.

 

His teeth released the skin of her neck. His mouth moved to the line of Jane's clavicle, which he traced out to the side. His mouth trailed lower, and soon his mouth had begun to suck Jane's nipple. It was an aggressive display of the power of John's mouth. He sucked; he licked; he nibbled; he bit. Jane cried out as he bit down hard and pulled the nipple away from her body with his teeth. He looked up and saw the tears in her eyes along with the glaze of love that had been building. She kissed his lips and began to grind herself against him.

 

This was going to be a night that tested them. Jane only hoped John would know where to stop, and that she would not get hurt, or be forced to hurt him to make him stop. Maybe she should slow things down. Jane took a handful of grapes from one of the trays. She popped one into his mouth and one into her own. He showed his teeth as he bit the grape and swallowed. John grabbed Jane's wrists, sending the rest of the grapes flying. His eyes were on fire. He stepped Jane back until she was backed against a table. He roughly turned her and bent her over the table's edge. He grabbed the far edge of the table above each of Jane's shoulders. She widened her stance and felt him drive into her body. Now he was still. He didn't move inside her. She could tell he was working to control his breaths. She swore he was silently sobbing by the movement of his abdominal muscles.

 

Jane reached her hands to John's hands, but as she reached forward, he pulled his hands from the edge of the table. He slipped his hands under her at the waist, and pulled her up with him. They stood joined, but still unmoving. Jane began to shift side to side, hoping to prompt John to begin moving too.

 

"I need you," she whispered as she continued to writhe and push their bodies together.

 

He eased out of her and turned her to face him. There were tears forming in the corners of his eyes, but he lunged at her lips. As they kissed, the couple found their way to the woven mat, and took to their knees. John's hands roamed freely on Jane's body. She was as perfect as he had dreamed her to be while he was away. Why had he left her? All he did was lose more of what had been his, and he had kept himself from Jane. This contemplation occurred while John repeatedly stroked the same circle on Jane's lower abdomen.

 

"We don't have to."

 

His look stopped her words.

 

John knew she would wait until he was ready. He knew they could talk, but his mind was not ready for that. They had been apart so long, or at least it felt that way. John was almost scared. What if Jane had been right, and going to the Congo just opened the old wounds? Why had he risked so much for Richard? John looked at Jane, the pain so deep she could see it. John closed his eyes and pushed Jane to the floor. She felt tears falling from his eyes onto her chest as he held himself above her. With a grunt, John thrust forward. Jane lifted to meet him. Each time he exhaled he pushed deep into her. Each breath became more of a sob. When he reached the peak he collapsed in tears. He came down against her hard, taking her breath for a moment. He was crying so hard he shook. He rolled into a fetal position, holding his knees tightly to his chest. All Jane could do was support him, touch him, hold him, and wait until he could tell her what had hurt him so deeply.

 

Don't Shut Me Out - Keith Urban

 

Don't shut me out maybe baby

We should talk about it

'Cause you've got your doubts but maybe, baby

They might be unfounded

 

Have a little faith you'll make it through

I'd never hesitate to talk to you

If you tell me just what's weighing on your mind

Maybe it could help you sleep tonight

So don't shut me out

 

As the tears began to ebb, Jane continued to soothe John. He had cried for a long time, and sobbed for even longer after that. The whole time, Jane had held him in silence. But now, she began to speak to him in a low voice.

 

"John, you can tell me anything, you know that? There isn't anything you could tell me that would make me go. I love you too much to ever leave you."

 

John rolled to face Jane, still curled up. He pressed his head to her chest and clung to her. After another long silence, John finally spoke.

 

"It's all gone," John lamented.

 

"What is?"

 

"Where I grew up. They are taking it away."

 

"Oh, John."

 

"The lake is gone. They are building 'luxury bungalows', and I do not even know what that means. All I know is that my home, my trees, my animal tribes, now have no place there. Before they are done, they will find the plane. They will disturb my parent's bones. I knew when I saw the machines, and smelled the acrid smoke from them, that I no longer belonged there. You are now my only home."

 

Don't be so proud don't ya know that

Before a fall it leaves ya

And it'll take you down baby that ain't

Where I wanna see ya

 

The sun'll rise tomorrow come what may

And you'll feel better than you do today

And in time you'll cry no more

I know 'cause my heart's been there before

 

And here I am when you need someone

My shoulder's yours to cry upon

And everybody now and then

Needs an understanding friend around

So don't shut me out

 

Jane began to tear up as she heard John's heartfelt and heartbroken words.

 

"I thought I could leave it there, just come home to you, and forget. But it is too strong. Every time I close my eyes I am back there. Richard said many hurtful things before his mind left him, but bad things were done to him. He tried to hurt me because he was hurting, and he hurt Damon and Kathleen and Craig because he could not have me to control."

 

"That does happen. People who are used to being in control will hurt others who get in their way."

 

Don't shut me out maybe baby

We should talk about it

'Cause you've got your doubts but maybe, baby

They might be unfounded

 

Listen to your heart and clear your mind

And you will find the answer every time

Every road you travel on will lead

To where it is your heart's supposed to be

 

And here I am when you need someone

My shoulder's yours to cry upon

And everybody now and then

Needs an understandin' friend around

So don't shut me out, don't shut me out, don't shut me out

 

"Can we talk later? I wish to sleep in your arms, feel you close. It is all I have wanted since I left," John told Jane.

 

"That's all I want too. Here?"

 

"No. I want to share our bed. I want only the smell of my mate to be in each breath."

 

They both stood, still naked, and made their way down the hall to their suite of rooms. The sheets were cool on his skin, and they felt good on his feet. Jane settled into John's arms. They faced each other, and touched and learned each other all over again. John sank his nose to Jane's shoulder and pushed her back down to the mattress. He released a long-held breath, and she felt his body lose the tension. She sighed, and together, they drifted to sleep.

 

~~~~~

 

The limo whisked Kathleen and Craig to Bellevue. On the way, Kathleen made a call.

"Edgar, Damon is home safe…Yes, John too. They found Richard. I don’t know all the details yet, but I thought you would want to know they were safe…You are completely welcome. I know you didn't have to let Damon go…Yes, he is headstrong…I'd say all four of us can claim that…Yes, I'll make sure he calls you. Goodnight."

 

Kathleen peered at her phone and found the program for Nicky's number.

 

'boop boop beep boop beep beep bomp.'

 

"Nicky, it's Kathleen. John and Damon are home. Your sister is at the manor with John, and we will be picking Damon up from Bellevue."

 

"Is he OK?" Nicky shrieked.

 

"Don't worry Nicky," Kathleen soothed as she pulled the phone away from her ear so as not to have her eardrum split. "He went with Richard - and don't worry, Richard doesn't pose a threat. He'll be staying at Bellevue for evaluation. I'll have Damon back to the manor before the night is through."

 

"Thank-you Kathleen."

 

"That's OK. Bye."

 

When Kathleen hung up, she smirked.

 

"What?" Craig asked.

 

"Young love."

 

"Ah."

 

~~~~~

 

The limo pulled up to the curb a block away from Bellevue. They didn't want to block the entrance with the big car.

 

"Driver, don't worry about getting a space close by. I'll call when we are ready to go."

 

"Yes Miss Clayton."

 

Craig smiled.

 

"What?"

 

"He won't be able to call you that much longer."

 

"Who said I'm changing my name?"

 

"Would you be agreeable to going from miss to ms?"

 

"Perhaps," Kathleen said with a sheepish smile, "But let's not talk about any of this tonight. There's plenty of time to tell them we're getting married. I think John and Damon will need to tell about what happened to them, and it would be better if we kept our news to ourselves."

 

"I agree."

 

They got out of the car, and headed for the entrance of the hospital. Craig held the glass door open for Kathleen, and she slipped in front of him. They read the wall directory and found the floor they needed.

 

"Dr. Trench - his office is in room 405. He said he would be part of the team looking after Richard," Kathleen told Craig.

 

He hit the button to get an up elevator, and soon they heard a 'ding' and a subtle roar of the doors opening. They stepped on, and assumed the forward elevator stare. With a dip of adjustment, the elevator came to a stop on the fourth floor, and the doors opened. The walls were a muted green, and if that weren't enough, there was that faint smell of disinfectant. Kathleen set her jaw, swallowed down her rising gorge, and stepped out, Craig right on her heels.

 

Before they even reached Dr. Trench's office, they passed by a window with opaque glass. You could see outlines through, and voices passed through the cracked open door.

 

"It's OK, Richard, no one here is going to hurt you," they heard a voice say from within. Soon thereafter, a white-coated man exited the room and walked down the hall. He reached for the knob on room 405 and Kathleen spoke.

 

"Dr. Trench?"

 

He turned.

 

"Hello. I'm Kathleen Clayton. Richard is my brother."

 

"Oh, pleased to finally meet you face to face," he said proffering his hand.

 

They shook hands, and Kathleen introduced Craig.

 

"You must be Damon's father. The resemblance is striking. He's done a good job keeping Richard calm."

 

Craig just nodded.

 

"Doctor, what's Richard's prognosis?"

 

"I haven't had enough time with him to say. From your descriptions of what he was like before, this is not the same man. Beyond the dehydration and malnutrition, he seems to have had a serious break with reality. He has gone back to a simpler time, before he was hit with the trauma of losing his brother. I think it all stems back to that, or an even earlier trauma. Now, he's like a child."

 

"I noticed. Can you help him?"

 

"After we give him fluids, make sure his body is healthy - with therapy, I think he can be brought to the point where he can care for himself, but chances are he will never be CEO material again. We need to get him settled in, and hope he will be alright without Damon by his side. He's become rather attached to the young man."

 

"Thank-you doctor. Can we go in?"

 

"Not right now. But please, wait in my office. I'll bring Damon to you."

 

They nodded and went into the office ahead of the doctor. He got a file off his desk and left them alone in there. A big black leather couch was up against the far wall. Kathleen sat and leaned back, sighing. Craig joined her and rubbed a supportive hand across her shoulders. She leaned and placed her head on his shoulder, feeling him hug her to him.

 

"Are you OK?" Craig asked.

 

"Just tired. I guess I was scared for them the whole time they were gone, and it has only hit me now. And I hope John will be alright. There was something in his eyes that said 'pain'. But Jane is the best one for him to be with now. She touches him down to the core. And he trusts her implicitly."

 

~~~~~

 

When Jane awoke, she was alone in the bed.

 

"John?" she asked into the room as she crept to the bathroom door. He wasn't there. Jane put on her robe and left their suite. Jane carefully traversed the hall in this wing of the house, looking for clues that John had been there. She was starting to worry when she spotted the door that was slightly ajar. It was the room John had called his when he was five years old. Jane pushed the door enough to look in. There sat John, knees to his chest, on the bed that had been his as a little boy. His head was up, and he stared straight ahead.

 

"John?" Jane carefully inquired.

 

He looked to her, but otherwise did not move. His eyes followed her as she crossed the foot of the bed to come to his side. She sat next to him and placed her hands over his knees.

 

"Are you OK?"

 

His sad eyes told her he was not OK. He was hurting deeply, and Jane wasn't sure it was a pain she could help him with. John leaned his back against the headboard of the bed.

 

"When I lived here, I was happy. I had my parents, my family, but it was taken away. Then, in the jungle, I was happy. I had Kala, and my family, but I was taken away from it. Now, here, I had you, Kathleen, a new family, and I took myself away. I left it all because I thought going back would help me understand."

 

"But you came back. You came home to me." Jane said, caressing his cheek, trying to smile.

 

"Every time I am truly happy, it goes away."

 

"Not any more. I'm not going anywhere. Kathleen is not going anywhere. Nicky and Damon and Craig - a family is forming, and you are the heart of it. I know words alone cannot make you see how important you are to all of us. But I know you have seen it. I know you feel it. I know that the hollow feeling I had while you were gone was in you too. I know that I felt it when you were looking up at the stars, wondering if I was looking too, because I was doing the same thing. I know you are the only man I want to be with, the only one I could ever imagine having children with. You fill my heart every time I think about you. I was never truly happy until I was able to open my heart and let you inside."

 

John looked longingly at Jane.

 

"I love you," John said in a low voice.

 

Jane pulled up onto the bed and felt John cradle her in his arms, his body feeling her warmth. His arms crossed around her waist as his head draped over her shoulder. Jane truly understood him. It had taken a long time, and it was hard fought. The doubts always haunted him, and she always found a way to restore his faith in love, life, and people.

 

**_I Could Fly - Keith Urban_ **

****

**_Time stands still for no one_ **

**_I know this much is true_ **

**_I've been stuck here waiting_ **

**_Then along came you_ **

****

**_And you gave me back_ **

**_The love I had_ **

**_The faith I'd lost_ **

**_The life I knew_ **

****

**_I wanna thank you for the love that you give me_ **

**_And the sun that you put in my sky_ **

**_You don't know how much you've lifted me up_ **

**_But I feel so alive_ **

**_That I could fly_ **

**_I could fly, oh_ **

****

**_There's no way I could've made it this far_ **

**_Without you_ **

**_You came just when I needed someone to believe_ **

**_That I could make it through_ **

****

**_And you gave me back_ **

**_The love I had_ **

**_The faith I'd lost_ **

**_The life I knew_ **

****

**_I wanna thank you for the love that you give me_ **

**_And the sun that you put in my sky_ **

**_You don't know how much you've lifted me up_ **

**_But I feel so alive_ **

**_That I could fly_ **

**_I could fly, oh_ **

 

His hand fell open, revealing the pocket watch with the matching picture to the locket.

 

"What's this?" Jane asked.

 

"I found it in a box in the plane. It matches the locket," he said numbly, showing it to Jane.

 

"Yes it does. John, It's beautiful."

 

"It was all I found there."

 

"I think you found much more. I think you found understanding - maybe not the understanding you sought, but you looked inside, and you have told me about your fears. You were not so able to tell these things before. And the first step to easing those fears, is to share them. Together, we will help each other with whatever scares us. You will never have to fear alone again."

 

"And you will never have to fear alone either."

 

Jane turned her head so she could kiss John, and he rolled her in his arms until they were face to face. Their fingers laced through the chain on the pocket watch as they kissed deeply. Slowly, John relaxed. He had been able to share what scared him so, and he could see how Jane had been scared of her feelings. John always feared the anger in him, and Jane always feared the love in her. They completed each other. Together, they freed each other's souls. Both needed to learn to trust fully, and in each other they found that.

 

**_Above the clouds_ **

**_Fly so high, never come down_ **

**_Just you and I, I'm so in love_ **

**_With you, with you_ **

****

**_And you gave me back_ **

**_The love I had_ **

**_The faith I'd lost_ **

**_The life I knew_ **

****

**_I wanna thank you for the love that you give me_ **

**_And the sun that you put in my sky_ **

**_You don't know how much you've lifted me up_ **

**_But I feel so alive_ **

****

Jane's stomach growled. She tried to ignore it, but she could not.

 

"You should go eat," John mumbled in her ear as the grumbling sounded again.

 

"I don't want to leave you."

 

"It is OK now. Go, I'll come down in a little bit."

 

"You sure?" Jane asked, a tone of concern in her voice.

 

John nodded. He seemed considerably brighter in mood, so Jane slipped from the bed and John's arms. Once she was out of the room, John sat forward again. He sat cross-legged on the bed and surveyed the room. Very little of it struck a chord of memory. But John felt that the room held good times. And it would again, when he and Jane filled it with a child of their own. He took a deep breath. He picked up the pillow with the teddy bear tucked in the pocket, smiled at the tiny face, and jumped up from the bed. He placed the pillow at the head of the bed and smoothed the sheets and blanket. He pictured Jane holding a sleeping child in her arms, about to place him or her in the bed and tuck that child in.

 

That image filled his heart. He could see it happening. His spirit was soaring.

 

**_I wanna thank you for the love that you give me_ **

**_And the sun that you put in my sky_ **

**_You don't know how much you've lifted me up_ **

**_But I feel so alive_ **

**_That I could fly_ **

**_I could fly, oh_ **

****

**_And I could fly_ **

**_I could fly, oh_ **

**_I wanna spread my wings_ **

**_Let me tell you_ **

****

**_Said I need your love, I need your love_ **

**_Stay with me baby_ **

**_Oh I need your love, I need your love_ **

**_Stay with me honey baby, c'mon now stay_ **

**_C'mon now, yeah_ **

**_You and me side by side walkin' through the woods in the pale moonlight_ **

**_Oh yeah now and it feels so good_ **

 

~~~~~

 

Just before dawn, Damon entered Dr. Trench's office where Kathleen and Craig had been waiting. He found them fast asleep on the leather couch. Damon reached a hand to Kathleen's shoulder and she inhaled quick as she felt it. Her head came up.

 

"What? Oh, Damon, what time is it?"

 

"Just after 4AM. They just got Richard settled. They've sedated him for now. I told him he was going to fall asleep, and that he'd feel better when he woke up, and not to fear if I was not by his side. I told him everyone here was his friend. I hope it helps."

 

"Craig, wake up. Damon, would you like to go home? I'm sure Nicky would be glad to see you. She was going to get home late last night, but I don't think she would mind if you woke her up."

 

"Do my parents know we're home - I don't want them worrying."

 

"Yes, I called your dad. He was quite relieved."

 

"Good. Yeah, I could deal with a hot shower, a hot meal, and a soft bed about now," he yawned

 

"So could I," Craig mumbled.

 

Kathleen elbowed him for the comment.

 

"Then let's get home," Kathleen said with a smile.

 

~~~~~

 

John and Jane were back in bed cuddled together as they slept. John felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his soul. No more would he have his world turned upside down by the loss of all he cared for. He was sure Jane was his forever now. The dream of their child was so vivid. Even in sleep he felt so alive.

 

The door downstairs opened. John sniffed the air. It was Kathleen, Craig and Damon, finally home. John had heard Nicky come in just after they had settled into their bed again, so they had missed saying hello by just minutes. Now all his family was safe. Morning would come soon enough, and he figured any news could wait until then.

 

He listened as they came up the stairs, but he only heard two doors close. He raised an eyebrow.

 

Damon had gone to his room, and Kathleen and Craig had gone to her room. Some things had changed in John's time away. Kathleen and Craig changed and collapsed on their bed. This was the kind of togetherness this night required. Damon showered, but then he too collapsed on his bed. He was too tired to care about anything.

 

~~~~~

 

It was a late starting day for everyone. No one had set alarms, nor did they wish to be getting up any earlier than their bodies wanted. John and Jane were the first up, but only because they had gotten the most sleep, disturbed though it was. They made their way downstairs for breakfast. John nearly inhaled a pitcher of orange juice, having missed the taste so much while he had been away. He was almost sloshing by the time he was done, but he sighed contentedly after floating pancakes and bacon in all that juice. Nicky came down next. She had studied late into the wee hours, but hadn't really gotten much of it after getting Kathleen's call that Damon and John were home. She hoped she would pass when the exam came.

 

"Is Damon up yet?" Nicky asked as she came into the kitchen.

 

"Not yet. They did not get home until almost daybreak," John informed her.

 

"Who knew it took so long to settle someone into a hospital bed."

 

"Nicky, Richard has the mental capacity of a five year old right now - how would you have reacted if mom and dad had left you alone in a hospital room when you were five?"

 

"Yeah, I guess. I'm gonna check on Damon," Nicky went on to say, and then grabbed a bagel and hotfooted it back upstairs.

 

She slipped silently into Damon's room and saw him sleeping soundly. He had thrashed the covers off, and Nicky noticed he was only wearing a pair of sweat shorts - and he must have been having a good dream by the look of things. Nicky blushed, but secretly, she hoped he was dreaming about them. She picked up his blanket, but before she covered him again, she slipped her robe off and snuggled up behind him. She wanted him to wake up and see her before anything else, and if anything happened, she would let it. She had been using her birth control patches for several months now, and she was sure it would be safe.

 

When Kathleen and Craig came down, John could smell that they had slept together - not sex, but they were together. John smiled and dropped his head to Jane's shoulder.

 

"What?" Jane whispered, smiling as well because she could feel the heat emanating from him.

 

"They are in love again."

 

Jane looked at him amazed. Jane knew they were getting closer, but how did John just look at them and know that?

 

"How do you do that?"

 

"Do what?"

 

"Read people like that. Even as a cop, I can't do what you do without thinking about it."

 

"You do not use you nose. Do you wish me to train you?"

 

"I may just take you up on that offer," Jane admitted and then kissed him quick.

 

"How are you two this morning?" Kathleen asked as she sat.

 

"Still in need of some sleep, still talking a few things out. What took you so long last night?"

 

"Damon tried very hard to keep Richard from getting scared. He didn't want to leave him alone with strangers I guess. He didn't say too much. I think we all need to have a good talk. So much happened both here and there. I think it would be good to get it all in the open. I was thinking about inviting everyone over for a dinner to welcome you back. I'm going at ask Damon's parents, and Sam as well as the family. Would that be alright with you, John?"

 

"I think there are things we may not be able to convey in such a setting, but I will try."

 

"Kathleen, it may be too soon for such a gathering."

 

"We can hold off. I …didn't think about the timing…You're right. We'll wait a while. Has Damon been down, by the way?"

 

"No, but Nicky went to check on him," Jane answered.

 

"You sure you should leave those two alone after such a long separation?"

 

"I trust her," Jane quickly replied, though the back of her mind flashed to taking her sister for birth control. She shook that thought away - Nicky wouldn't be so impulsive, would she?

 

"Jane, you OK?" Kathleen inquired as Jane's look was far away.

 

"Fine, just thinking."

 

~~~~~

 

Damon groaned and turned. His eyes opened and beheld Nicky looking back. She was smiling seductively at him.

 

"What are you doing here?" he whispered.

 

"Watching you sleep. I wanted you to see me before anyone else today. I hope that was a good way to wake up for you."

 

"It was a dream come true."

 

They pulled closer together and wrapped their arms around each other. Nicky blushed as she felt the press of his excited body against her. She turned to her back and pulled him on top of her. They kissed and touched.

 

"Nicky, I don't think we should right now. We will know when the time is right. Don't be angry with me. I just think this is not the time."

 

"I'm not angry. I'm just so happy you're home. I have missed the feel of your arms, the taste of your kiss."

 

"As have I."

 

They melted into their embrace, and slept a bit longer, feeling like the world was finally right.

 

~~~~~

 

Damon and Kathleen went to Bellevue late in the afternoon. Damon went to sit with Richard, and show him that he had not abandoned him. And Kathleen looked after the arrangements for Richard while he stayed there.

 

"Dr. Trench, I'd like to thank you for taking on Richard's case. I know I wasn't able to provide much information, but my nephew is a man of few words. He told me in simple terms how Richard seemed to be acting. Have you been able to make any diagnosis?"

 

"Like I told you last night, Miss Clayton, it will take time to evaluate your brother's condition. There doesn't seem to be loss of cognitive function, there is nothing physically wrong beyond the need for fluids as far as we've detected. His scans are clean, but he has suffered some sort of traumatic amnesia. We are working on gathering information and I cannot offer a prognosis this soon."

 

"I know, doctor. I would just like some answers, that's all."

 

They stayed for several hours so Damon could talk to Richard. Kathleen also was allowed into the room this time. Richard seemed to remember her, but only from the airport, nowhere else. When it was time for them to leave, both assured Richard they would return, and he reluctantly let them go.

 

~~~~~

 

While John and Jane floated in the atrium pool, he talked about what had happened on the trip. She loved hearing about how Damon had been able to step up his game and almost keep up with John. She marveled at his skills - climbing, weaving, hunting - and still he taught Damon. Jane gasped hearing about the height John dove from, but all the while she could picture his sculpted body performing the acts he described.

 

He told her in detail about how the smell of acrid smoke led him to the downed Cessna, and that only later did he understand the smoke was not coming from the wreck, but rather the machines that were destroying his former home.

 

Jane relived the adventure with him as he told her everything.

 

~~~~~

 

For the next few days, John and Damon were allowed time to settle back into life in NYC. Both showed signs of restlessness, the need to roam. John and Jane began taking runs in the park to help him adjust to the limitations of the city's vegetation, and to burn off the extra calories he had taken in upon his return. He knew his food intake would level off after his schedule normalized. Some of it was nervous eating, but Jane's calming influence was helping those nerves melt away. He found Jane very fleet on their runs.

 

"You move faster than before," John said as their second circuit of the park ended and Jane was not puffing in her attempt to keep his pace.

 

"I did a lot of running while you were gone - I had some energy to burn that you weren't there to help me with."

 

That was when John realized there was another good way to burn off calories.

 

"Hop on," he called as he stepped in front of Jane.

 

Jane got a quick piggyback ride back to the manor, and soon the pair was involved in naked calisthenics in the atrium. They had definitely burned more calories this way than the run would have.

 

Damon spent as much time with Nicky as he could. He confided his thoughts about the Congo with her, telling of his fears, and how he thought on several occasions that John had lost his humanity while deep in the jungle that raised him. Nicky helped get Damon through the transition by getting him to laugh and relax. They also played tennis though both were atrocious at the game. That was one of the ways Nicky got him to laugh. After such physical exertion, they would take turns giving each other a massage. And while the temptation was there to take it further than just a massage, both were able to stop themselves. But they did make out while in various states of undress, and once while Nicky was wearing only a towel that she opened to let him touch her entire back.

 

She was so tempted that day to tell him to grab a condom out of her drawer. The whole house was empty, no one would have known.They had done everything short of actually having sex. Both had touched the other in the most intimate places, sending firestorms through their bodies. But he stepped away this time, knowing her resolve was weak, and leaned against the wall across from the bed where Nicky was sprawled. She pinned the towel to her chest and rose to her feet. He was obviously aroused, his underwear the only thing keeping Nicky from seeing everything. She walked over to him. Nicky kissed him and then brought her body against his. After a lingering kiss, Nicky moaned and went into the bathroom. It was a very close call.

 

As the weeks went on, John was able to tell Jane some of the smaller details, and even was able to tell Kathleen the overview of what happened. She was hurt when she learned the reason Richard had gone after Craig, and why Damon, then Sean, was such a threat to him. Damon told Nicky everything, and told much to Craig. Kathleen, Craig, and Damon really got to know each other, and the couple even bonded with Edgar and Tinka over their mutual son.

 

~~~~~

 

That Friday night, after John and Damon had been home for just over a week, everyone gathered for dinner. It was a very full house. Kathleen and Craig sat at the head of the table, presiding over the meal. John and Jane were first on the left side with Damon and Nicky on the right. Sam sat next to Jane. Edgar and Tinka sat at the far end of the table. It was a quiet meal. John and Damon were in no mood to share stories over the meal. They were both still absorbing what had taken place while they were in the Congo. It was OK to share privately, but during the meal was not the right time.

 

When they retired to the livingroom it helped. John and Jane sat on the floor together in front of the empty fireplace on a soft blanket while the others took up places on the couch and chairs.

 

"So, tell us about the trip," Kathleen said, hoping to draw stories from them.

 

Damon looked to John. John nodded, saying without a word that it was alright for Damon to tell what he wished.

 

"It was amazing," Damon began. "There were leaves twice the size of my head, and I have never had better tasting fish. And the colors, sounds, smells - it was like stepping into some lost world!…it's a shame they are digging it up," he added, far more subdued.

 

"Such a pure place should never be desecrated," Craig said shaking his head.

 

"I found my father's pocket watch in the plane," John offered.

 

Jane squeezed his hand.

 

"The one that matches the locket?" Kathleen asked.

 

"How did you know that?" Jane replied.

 

"I bought them the set for their tenth anniversary."

 

"I didn't know my parents were together so long," John confessed.

 

"They tried for many years before they had you. There were some rough patches in the early years, but once you were on the way, everything came together."

 

John smiled at the thought that he had brought his parents closer, and Jane tilted her head on John's shoulder, glad he was able to talk about any part of the experience with someone other than Jane herself.

 

Neither John nor Damon really wished to go into great detail in front of everyone, and none of those who had been left behind pushed. It had clearly been a very personal experience for the two men.

 

"Is there something you wish to share with us Aunt?" John asked, knowing she was holding something back.

 

"I can't get anything past you, can I?"

 

Kathleen clasped Craig's hand, and looked to him. He tacitly approved.

 

"Craig and I are getting married. I wanted to wait until you were home before we told anyone."

 

Nicky jumped up and flung herself at Kathleen, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck. A chorus of congratulations rang out in the room.

 

"Have you set a date?" Jane asked.

 

"Not yet, but it's not completely in our hands," Kathleen cryptically offered.

 

"What do you mean?" John asked.

 

"The Council of Chiefs will need to be in on the setting of the date."

 

Now Damon became excited.

 

"You are having the traditional ceremony?" Damon excitedly asked.

 

"We have decided to have two ceremonies, one of Kathleen's faith, and one of mine," Craig related.

 

~~~~~

 

Richard was slowly rehabilitated. He remembered a few things, but none of the nefarious deeds that had led him to snap. The doctors instructed Kathleen to bring photo albums that would have pictures of Richard's early life - also movies if they had them. Once Richard was cleared medically, it was time to see what he could be re-taught about himself.

 

Kathleen warmed to this version of her brother. He was as she remembered him when she was young. He had been kind and jovial until John had died. Kathleen never understood what changed him so much. Yes there was grief, but Kathleen saw that and it was something else that seemed to blacken Richard's soul. It took the strength of the whole family to help her when Kathleen finally saw some of the papers her father had kept secret. Richard had first seen them after John's death, and that was surely what made him the man he became. That's when he found out about the medical procedures done to him to render him sterile. That's why finding John, Jr. had consumed him. John had hinted that things had been done to Richard, but it was beyond what he felt comfortable telling everyone. Craig provided vital strength for Kathleen. Kathleen became willing to do whatever was needed to make her brother a better person this time around.

 

~~~~~

 

It was almost Fall. Weeks had been spent finding and bringing Richard home, but time had passed since the homecoming. Richard had been found at the end of June/ beginning of July. He was kept in the hospital until the first week of August. A special set of rooms was readied in the Clayton Manor house so Richard could be brought home.He could feed and clothe himself, and talk about everyday things, but his business acumen was gone along with his killer instincts. It had taken weeks to get him so far, but the family was assured Richard could, at some point, come back to where he could live independently. He wasn't stupid, but his hard edge was gone.

 

Richard still feared John to a certain extent, but John was able to understand Richard was no longer the angry controlling man who had brought him to the city or who had ordered Kala finished off after she was shot by the search party. Richard had traded the business suits and meetings for casual clothes, rubber clogs, and a green thumb. The gardens surrounding the manor and the atrium had never looked more alive. It had been a love of his as a child, but his father had deemed it below him. Now he could follow his passion.

 

Kathleen interviewed suitable caretakers for Richard. They found a wonderful younger woman who Richard liked and would listen to. It worked out well. It took her a while to get over the oddities of the family as it was, but she figured the rich all had their eccentricities. So what was so odd about an indoor jungle and a tree climber swinging from the trees with his live in girlfriend while an international publishing concern was being run down the hall?

 

~~~~~

 

Kathleen was awhirl in preparations for the weddings, and despite a few moments where it looked as if she was going to lose her mind, the plans went along smoothly. After a near meltdown, Kathleen shared the burden and everyone was involved from that point forward. It was the first time Kathleen really understood how much work went into a wedding.

 

"You look tired," Craig said as Kathleen settled into bed next to him.

 

"I am. I have spent hours fighting with a demented confectioner about the color of my icing."

 

"What?"

 

"The cake for the wedding here, he's fighting me about matching the cake to the colors of the wedding party."

 

"Then replace him."

 

"I threatened that before we were done today. I almost needed to call Jane and Sam in to settle the dispute before I started cracking heads together."

 

"Now there's the girl I love."

 

"Please tell me all is under control on your end?"

 

"They will be ready, I promise."

 

~~~~~

 

With the date for their traditional Mohawk wedding ceremony set, the other ceremony was planned for two days earlier. The interim to be spent traveling to the Akwesasne Reservation. It was down to days and Kathleen was becoming impossible. Jane was glad to have work to escape to in those days leading up to the first wedding. Sam would come in just to watch Kathleen order change after change to the décor. He considered it a spectator sport - but kinda like those people who would pack a picnic lunch to watch the nearby battles of the Civil War - you were likely to get caught in the crossfire.

 

When the smoke settled, and Kathleen decided to take on faith that everything would go off without a hitch, she almost became human again. Things were all set. Kathleen only had one more morning to endure.

 

~~~~~

 

It was all so beautiful. John and Damon had done much to make it all look as it did. The rounded boughs of pine around the arches that covered the pathway Kathleen and Craig were to walk down were still fragrant. Wild white roses on long stems were tucked among them, and large pots filled with lemon grass and eastern spice bush created the outer edge of the imaginary altar. There were three sets of three chairs set up on either side of the aisle, enough to seat all the members who would gather for this wedding. The whole side garden was green and lush, and the shadow of the manor was slowly creeping across the area.

 

Kathleen was in her room, nervously attempting to wait until she heard the music, her cue.

 

"Knock, knock," Jane said, letting herself into the room, "How're you holding up?"

 

"I can't remember the last time I was this nervous," Kathleen said, her eyes wide.

 

"It'll be fine. You should see the garden. John and Damon outdid themselves. It's a paradise."

 

At first as a low drone, and then building, Jane and Kathleen heard the music begin.

 

"Hwahhh…wheeen…bleeee."

 

The piper was ready to strike up the melody now that the drones were all singing. Kathleen's head raised proudly. The Irish in her was stirred by the sound of the bagpipes, and it was a call to arms for the beginning of her wedding.

 

"Ready?" Sam asked, poking his head around the corner, "Damn, you look good girl."

 

Kathleen began to glow with a blush. Sam came all the way into her room and proffered his elbow. Kathleen wrapped her arm around Sam's, and he patted her hand assuring-ly. Jane moved to get out the door ahead of them, since she was to precede Kathleen in the ceremony.

 

Nicky nervously giggled as Jane reached her at the foot of the stairs. Both she and Jane were dressed in simple sheath dresses in a deep purple-blue satin. John, who was just up the hall, waiting next to Damon, could not suppress a gleeful smile as the laughter hit his ears. The two women clasped hands, and leaned into each other, culminating in a quick hug as they each moved to join their respective other halves.

 

As Nicky reached him, Damon put his arm around her, placing his palm flat along her back as he escorted her to the door leading to the side garden. John followed suit when Jane reached him. Jane's eyes gleamed at seeing John all dressed up. He and Damon were festooned in charcoal gray dress pants, and crisp white shirts that had been tailored with square bottoms and left un-tucked.

 

The two couples stood just outside the side door of Greystoke Manor waiting for the pipers to begin the wedding march. Craig was waiting near the memorial to John's parents, around which the makeshift altar had been erected. He wore a full suit, but it was a pale gray that closely matched his eyes. In the lapel, a deep purple/blue iris with a yellow throat provided a touch of intense color. He was breathing deeply and slowly to maintain his calmness.

 

Sam was slowly leading Kathleen down the front staircase. He had chosen to go for the complete formal suit that matched the charcoal pants John and Damon were wearing. Kathleen pinched the fabric of her skirt, holding the hem up so she did not trip. Her simple gown had long sleeves, but exposed circles at each shoulder, a deep rounded neckline carefully outlined Kathleen's bosom without overly exposing them. It cinched in at the waist, but still flowed nicely into the a-line skirt that fell to mid-calf. The soft, cotton knit fabric flowed. The super-pale purple/blue picked up the color of Kathleen's eyes, and was beautifully set off by the long dark flowing hair that cascaded majestically framing her face.

 

Just as Sam and Kathleen reached the landing, they heard the piper hit her cue. Jane looked back up the hall and gave Kathleen the thumbs up with a smile. They began the procession. Nicky and Damon were first, followed by John and Jane. When Damon reached the front, he gently moved Nicky to her seat, and took his place at his birthfather's side. He was proud to have been chosen to stand up for the man who had given him life. He was going to witness something unique - from the inside. He was going to see the two people whose love had created him get married - and it never would have happened had Damon not been encouraged to find his birth parents. Damon looked out into the small crowd and smiled and nodded at Edgar and Tinka. His parents were there to watch his parents get married. Try explaining that to someone who did not understand the family dynamic!

 

Kathleen and Sam entered the grass path and a chorus of oohs and ahhs were elicited from those assembled. Kathleen looked breath taking. She was all aglow, from the perfect iris entwined in the pulled back strands of hair, matching the flower in Craig's lapel, to the toe nails perfectly polished in the same purple/blue of the iris in her hair, for the whole world could see because of her bare feet. Kathleen had decided it was far easier for the whole wedding party to go barefoot than to attempt to make John wear shoes long enough for the ceremony. Besides, it was a garden wedding, casual, inclusive, and who wouldn't want to feel the soft, lush grass beneath their feet? Jane and Nicky had been treated to a pedicure to make sure all had perfect nails, and Sam even joked about getting his feet polished for the occasion - ala Fred Flintstone.

 

While traditional in many ways, there were elements that were brought about because of the unique nature of the families involved. Damon was not only standing up for Craig, he was there for Kathleen as well. It only seemed right that he who brought them together again would be by the side of both of them for their joining.

 

All those present were transfixed by the ceremony. The front rows consisted of Edgar, Tinka, and Nicky to the right side, and John, Jane, and Sam on the left. There were the most senior, trusted members of Kathleen's publishing staff, and a few friends of Craig's. In the very back, the recently recovered Richard sat with his caretaker. They were all uneasy about seeing him sitting there, but he was a changed man now, and he would never pose a threat again.

 

John tried as long as he could, but he had to wrap his arms around Jane as the exchange of vows took place. He pulled her as far from Sam as he could without going beyond the chairs. He put his mouth close to Jane's ear.

 

"I want to do this with you," John whispered.

 

Jane tensed, but did not answer.

 

"Did you hear me?" John said.

 

Jane nodded subtly.

 

"What do you think?"

 

Jane turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

 

"Are you asking me to marry you?"

 

John's eyes glinted, and he merely said, "Yes. What do you think?"

 

Before Jane could answer, Craig and Kathleen were declared husband and wife, and the assemblage applauded. Jane turned forward again, and joined in on the applause. As ceremony became party, John spun Jane all the way around to face him. His smile was infectious, and Jane was a bit flushed.

 

"Do you have an answer for me?"

 

"John, this is Kathleen's day, we really shouldn't upstage them with this kind of news."

 

"Does that mean yes?"

 

"Yes."

 

John spun around with Jane in his arms, so excited by her answer.

 

"John," she whispered, "it's just our secret for now, right?"

 

John nodded happily.

 

"What's gotten into you two, trying to knock out my kneecaps?" Sam jabbed.

 

John and Jane stared deeply into each other's eyes and simultaneously answered with, "nothing."

 

Sam smiled, because he knew something was up if jungle boy was twirling Jane around like a rag doll. He could guess, but he'd wait for them to tell him.

 

"Tonight," Jane began as she still held John's gaze, "we can celebrate privately, and I promise you, it will be a night you'll never forget."

 

Jane dipped her tongue into the ear of John's that she had been whispering into. John hummed with anticipation. Jane took John by the hand and they went to offer congratulations to the wedding couple. Jane had explained the traditions to John. A hearty handshake to the groom, and quick hug and peck on the cheek to the bride. John performed both flawlessly.

 

~~~~~

 

The celebration here was to be shortened somewhat, as there was yet another ceremony to be performed. It was to be representative of the two cultures within this marriage. Craig had consented to the Catholic ceremony in keeping with Kathleen's traditions, and Kathleen had consented to the traditional Mohawk ceremony in keeping with Craig's traditions.

 

There was cake and the first dance for Kathleen and Craig. John paid close attention to everything. Since Jane had said yes, he knew he had things to learn if he was to be wed to her with all the grandeur of this wedding.

 

Jane overheard Sam telling the daughters of Kathleen's top editor about how Richard had changed after he went to the Congo the last time.

 

"OK, you two watch the soaps?"

 

They nodded like bobble heads.

 

"Let's say…he used to be an Adam, but now he's a Stewart. Do you get me?"

 

"So, he's like, nice now?"

 

"But he used to be the controlling tycoon?" the other girl answered.

 

"Bing bing bing, we have a winner."

 

Jane smirked hearing Sam's way of conveying Richard's situation.

 

And as the first song played, John felt that the words not only fit Kathleen and Craig, but it was most appropriate to him and Jane as well.

 

**Making Memories of us - Keith Urban**

**I'm gonna be here for you baby**

**I'll be a man of my word**

**Speak the language in a voice that you have never heard**

**I wanna sleep with you forever**

**And I wanna die in you arms**

**In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm**

**And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you**

**And I'll earn your trust making memories of us**

**I wanna honor your mother**

**I wanna learn from your pa**

**I wanna steal your attention like a bad outlaw**

**I wanna stand out in a crowd for you**

**A man among men**

**I wanna make your world better than it's ever been**

**And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you**

**And I'll earn your trust making memories of us**

**We'll follow the rainbow**

**Wherever the four winds blow**

**And there'll be a new day**

**Comin' your way**

**I'm gonna be here for you from now on**

**This you know somehow**

**You've been stretched to the limits but it's alright now**

**I'm gonna make you a promise**

**If there's life after this**

**I'm gonna be there to meet you with a warm, wet kiss**

**And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you**

**And I'll earn your trust making memories of us**

**And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you**

**And I'll win your trust making memories of us**

 

"That song could be about us," John observed as they swayed together.

 

Jane's smile radiated until it covered her whole face.

 

"You can always amaze me with what you say. It warms my heart when you see the deeper meaning in things. A lot of guys who have had it a lot easier than you would never see what you see," streamed from her lips as she stroked his cheek with her fingers, and then swept her thumb behind as her hand cupped his chin. "I have never met anyone with a bigger heart. How you still find such love inside you, you must have been born with more love than some of us ever feel on the best day."

 

The tears were glistening as she finished speaking.

 

They snuggled cheek to cheek and kept dancing. Both felt light as air because their hearts were floating in the clouds.

 

Dancing went on until almost midnight, but as soon as the last note of the last song had resonated its last, everyone was off to their suites of rooms. The small group of close family and friends that was assembled here was soon to be loaded into a number of vehicles and on the road. The trip was not to be a short one, so a change into casual clothes came first.

 

John and Jane had their things arranged in the atrium. Jane had seen fit to prepare the garment bag for John as well as her own. When Craig and Kathleen had their meeting with the Council of Chiefs to set this date for their wedding, Craig had asked if the members of Kathleen's 'family' could be provided with proper traditional dress for the ceremony. They had agreed to seek out members of the tribe of the same sizes as John, Jane, Nicky and Sam. Both Craig and Kathleen would be made a new outfit for their wedding.

 

When John tried on his borrowed Mohawk traditional garb the first time, he liked the feel of it. The kilt, or breech-cloth, was not unlike what he had been used to wearing in the jungle. It was made from a single long piece of deerskin or cloth, 2 yards long and 10 to 12 inches wide, long enough to hang in the back and front and pass between the legs. The breech-cloth was secured to the waist by a sash, or in this case a deerskin leather belt. Leather leggings, the seams of which were turned to the outside allowing for fringes to stand outward from the legs, were bound at his knees to cover from the bottom of the breech-cloth to the tops of theMoccasins. The shirt was a tailored broadcloth in a faded salmon color, completed with a shoulder sash that went over his right shoulder and was affixed to the waist. He looked like he belonged in the tribe even with his blond hair cascading.

 

Jane had made sure all parts of his outfit were in his garment bag - there was no running home for something left behind.

 

Jane's leggings and skirt were made of a navy broadcloth with fine beadwork around the ankles on the leggings and the lower edge of the skirt. An aqua colored overdress, which was fitted at the waist and flared out, had a bottom edge left with an open upside down V shape which was beaded. The neck portion of the dress had a collar, beaded with the finest white glass seed beads, almost looking like lace. Just trying it on made Jane feel a reverence for the Mohawk people on a level she never thought about before. It brought home the importance of tradition, and, now that John had proposed, the thoughts of what kind of ceremony she and John should have when they themselves wed.

 

All these things were packed and hanging on a branch in the atrium before the wedding here had begun. After dancing, John and Jane slipped away to the atrium. John wanted to make sure they had enough time for a session of engagement nookie before they would spend the next seven to eight hours trapped in a moving vehicle with Nicky and Damon with no place to sneak off to.

 

Jane carefully took their formal clothing from this wedding and placed each piece on a hanger, far away from the waterfall and ankle deep pool. The moment Jane was done hooking the hanger with her dress on it on a branch, John had her in his arms and in the water.

 

"Tell me again," John said proudly.

 

"I will marry you," Jane answered.

 

John engulfed Jane's mouth as his arms tightened around her back, pressing her chest against his. Her mind went blank until she felt her back hit the water on the floor and she felt John's weight pressing her to the floor. Jane's hair floated to the surface and undulated gently like giant kelp on the waves. John went to his knees, which were firmly set on the floor between Jane's legs. His hands stroked from her waist to her thighs, and when he got to the backs of her knees, he grasped firmly and lifted Jane's pelvis up onto his upper thighs. Her feet came down on the outside of John's feet, and she brushed the soles of her feet over the upturned soles of John's feet.

 

"Lay back," John instructed when Jane tried to curl to him.

 

He leaned his head until he reached his nose to the hair between Jane's legs and took a deep breath. She smelled of sex, and he bared his teeth in pleasure, growling slightly. Jane shivered, her teeth chattering so badly she had to clench her jaw. John liked her reaction. He reached to either side and back to feel Jane's ankles, and smoothed his hands up her legs. Jane arched up high as his touch made everything tingle. He could see her wetness. He didn't know whether to taste her or take her. Jane's hands reached out for him, and he grabbed, and pulled her up until she was on his lap wrapping her legs around his hips. His hands gently lifted her, and spread her farther apart. He brought her down on him, and he was inside. Squeeze. He moved her back and forth. Squeeze. A quiet moan hummed in Jane's throat, raising in pitch with each thrust. He kissed her quick, "Uuuhhh."

 

"Yes," Jane whispered as John's mouth finally broke its seal on hers.

 

They lingered in the water for a while until they heard a rapping on the doors.

 

"20 minutes," Nicky announced.

 

She knew Jane would need a warning for leaving time. John's face had looked way too amorous after the ceremony.

 

They dried each other off, making sure to reach every nook and cranny.

 

Jane donned navy velour sweats that were baggy, but comfy. John went with the stand-by khaki cargoes and a matching military style shirt. The epaulets on the shoulders had been lucky John only ripped out the sleeves. Jane ran a comb through John's hair and when she began to detangle her tresses, John took the comb from her hands, and slowly drew his fingers through her auburn mop.

 

"All you need, I will be. I will be the comb for your hair. I will be the hand to steady you. I will be the air that keeps you alive. You will want for nothing."

 

"There's only one part of that I hope will never come true."

 

John cocked his head, truly confused, because he wanted all those things he said to be true for Jane too.

 

"If I want for nothing, then we will have done something wrong. I hope I will always want you."

 

His face and stance eased, replaced by a growing smile as he understood Jane's words, and the full meaning.

 

"That is the only want I will be glad to leave unfulfilled. But I will always take you as close to no wants as our love will grant."

 

They again kissed, sealing the truth of those words.

 

"We should go. I don't want to be accused of being the one who held things up," Jane proclaimed.

 

"There is one thing I must do first."

 

Jane nodded.

 

"Go, take care of it. I'll take our things down."

 

He gave Jane a quick kiss, and trotted off to a suite of rooms at the far end of the hall. He knocked lightly.

 

"Richard?" John said in a quiet voice.

 

"Yes, John?"

 

"We will be going now. If you need anything, just call Miranda. She will be here to wake you for breakfast, but if you need her during the night, she will come. We will be back day after tomorrow. Is there anything you need before I leave?"

 

"I'm fine, John. Have a good trip. Did Kathleen like my present?"

 

"Yes. It was very thoughtful of you. Goodnight."

 

"Night."

 

John withdrew from the room and used the key to re-lock Richard's rooms. He could not be allowed to freely roam the manor. He might still be a danger to himself. It wasn't purposeful, but Richard didn't think about the consequences of his actions. He just couldn't fully understand how to live in the city. John had to lock him up for his own good. The irony was not lost on John. But when Richard had done it to him, John was perfectly capable of living unsupervised. He hung the key on a peg across the hall and tapped on the door next to it.

 

"Miranda. I've told Richard we are leaving for a couple of days. He should not worry now. I locked the door. I know you will take care of him for us. Thank-you."

 

"I enjoy working with Richard. Sometimes…he exceeds my expectations. I'll keep him on schedule. He enjoyed the wedding. I'm glad you let him come. It made him feel like part of the family again."

 

"I am glad he felt included. Goodnight."

 

"See you when you get back Mr. Clayton."

 

Now John was ready to go.

 

~~~~~

 

When the midnight hour came, and John and Jane had gone to the atrium, Nicky went to her room in the manor, and Damon went to his. They, too, had been loaned traditional garb for the Mohawk nuptials. Nicky was so honored to be allowed to wear the trappings of a Mohawk woman. Damon explained the importance of the pieces, and what way the headwear was to sit. She felt like she was starting to understand a part of Damon. While he had not lived on the reservation all his life, Edgar was sure to teach him the ways. He was aware from an early age how noble and honorable his people were, and that he was part of a larger family. Nicky was nervous as she was now just sitting in her room, waiting until it was time to leave. She was so afraid she would do something to offend the elders of the council.

 

Nicky glanced at her watch and noticed it was 30 minutes until they were scheduled to leave. She decided to go give John and Jane a heads up because she was sure they were doing more than changing in the atrium. They had disappeared a little early from the party, and John had swung Jane into his arms as they disappeared into the manor.

 

~~~~~

 

Damon sat calmly in his room. He thought about the last few months. It seemed that his whole life had changed since the day Edgar had pushed him to contact his birth mother. He wondered if it had been unfair to the parents who raised him that he had moved into this house, away from them, to get to know his birth parents. He knew Edgar and Tinka would feel the pangs of separation soon enough when college started for him. And he feared he had made it all happen a few months too soon as far as his mom and dad were concerned. He hoped he had not hurt them.

 

There was a knock on the door.

 

"Come in," Damon called out.

 

"Are you ready to go?" Edgar asked, entering the room.

 

"Yeah, dad. Everything's ready. I'm glad you and mom will be there."

 

"Wouldn't miss it," Edgar said with a smile.

 

There was a silence that lasted longer than should have been between father and son.

 

"I'm sorry."

 

"For what, Damon?"

 

"For not being here with you and mom. I know you hoped to keep me close until I left for college."

 

Edgar shook his head with a smirk on his face.

 

"Damon, if I thought it would be bad for you or for your mom or me, I never would have pushed you to find them. You healed their deepest wounds. Not just for Kathleen and Craig, but for John as well. You kept him aware that there was a home to return to. He needed you for that. Your mom and I have had 18 years. You were to leave for school in September. A few months cannot change all we were allowed to have with you, but it changed everything for Kathleen, Craig, and John, and all the people their lives touch."

 

Edgar clasped Damon mid upper arm with each hand, holding him steady, looking him in the eyes.

 

"You can never disappoint me."

 

Damon nodded.

 

~~~~~

 

The buses were idling in the street in front of the manor. These were not your run of the mill buses, however. They were more like ornate sleeping cars, reminiscent of what would have been in Pullman cars in the 40's. While this was no train, it was going to be a wagon train following the roads to the Akwesasne reservation. Each bus had two large beds running down the driver's side, with a walking alley opposite. Between the beds was a small rest room. Above each bed was a series of doors. Some were empty cupboards for storage, but another was a small refrigerator and next to it a freezer. Each bus was like a double occupancy hotel room on wheels.

 

John, Jane, Damon and Nicky boarded the first one, coupling off. Kathleen and Craig rode with Edgar and Tinka. Sam agreed to ride with the garment bags and other odds and ends that would be needed, in a mini motor home. It had a bed in the back, and the fridge and bathroom, so what did Sam care if it didn't look like an art-deco throwback, rather a 70's flashback.

 

~~~~~

 

At first, the adrenaline of the day's events kept Kathleen and Craig wide awake as the miles went by. They cradled in each other's arm, eyes wide open.

 

"We should try to sleep," Craig mentioned.

 

"Do you feel tired right now?"

 

"No, but we have a long day ahead of us. The ceremony can be long, and the social wedding dance will go on well into the night - and they expect us to lead every dance! This will be our only chance to sleep for quite some time."

 

"I'm sure the gentle sway of the bus will put me out soon."

 

Kathleen turned to face Craig.

 

"It's just amazing that we are married. I never thought this would happen. After I lost you the first time, the thought of being married disappeared from my thoughts. I didn't even consider it a possibility for my life."

 

"You were the only one meant for me, too."

 

Craig kissed his bride sweetly on the lips and smiled at her. She tucked her head against his chest and he wrapped his arm around her.

 

~~~~~

 

John and Jane were on the bed to the back of the bus they were on. The beds were somewhat secluded by the overhead cupboards and the bathroom stuck out far enough between the beds that there was a measure of privacy. However, with John's hearing, there was no way Nicky and Damon would get 'serious' during the trip. John and Jane were a different story. John had unzipped Jane's top and was lavishing kisses on her exposed skin. She knew he would start pushing her pants lower any minute. If she allowed him to be in control, she knew he would do something that would make her call out because he would go to a level she wasn't prepared to go to knowing they weren't really alone.

 

Jane clasped his face in her hands, and pushed him back. He slid off toward the outer wall of the bus, and watched her curiously. Jane got up on her knees and beckoned John to lay flat on his back. She crawled over him and began to kiss him. Lips, neck, chest, all got attention as she worked her way down. Her hands smoothed over the abs and she untied his drawstring. She straddled his chest. She leaned forward onto her knees, and slid her pants off her hips. She took them to her knees and then settled herself atop him, skin to skin. She rubbed on him, and let the motion of the road move her on him. When she felt him rise beneath her, she leaned forward until her hands pressed on his shoulders. She kissed him on the mouth as his hands took her by the waist.

 

John watched as Jane's eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head as they came together. She stroked on him, knowing he was feeling it just as intensely. The bus hit a pothole in the road, and it drove their bodies into each other with great force. Jane gasped.

 

"Are you hurt?" John whispered.

 

Jane shook her head 'no', but her eyes were extremely wide and her pulse was rapid, almost racing. She had never felt him that far inside, and he must have touched a very sensitive spot. She swore her whole body was in spasm.

 

When they heard the door to the bathroom creak open, Jane quickly pulled her pants back into place and zipped up her top, and John brought his pants into place and retied them.

 

"Knock, knock," Nicky's voice said from the far side of the bathroom.

 

"What's up, Nicky?"

 

"Is it safe to come back?

 

"Yup," Jane answered.

 

"I know we're supposed to sleep, but I'm nervous about the ceremony tomorrow. What if I do something that offends the elders?"

 

"Just relax Nicky. Just be respectful," Jane told her.

 

"I know, but you know what happens when I get nervous. I start talking and I just can't stop, and before I know it, I've said something I shouldn't and I can't take it back."

 

"Breathe, Nicky."

 

Nicky took a couple of deep cleansing breaths.

 

"Better?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Damon came out of the bathroom and came up behind Nicky.

 

"Jane's right. You don't need to worry. I tried to tell you that. I'll stay by your side."

 

She smiled at Damon, and they returned to their bed on the bus. Nicky curled in a ball, and Damon pulled a blanket over her. She looked peaceful, so he moved to the other end of the bed and flattened himself.

 

~~~~~

 

When they arrived, it was mid-morning. They were all invited to partake of the morning meal in the house Craig's aunt lived in. They graciously accepted, but they were all still tired. Each was shown to their rooms for the stay at the reservation. Kathleen, Nicky and Jane would be staying here in Craig's aunt's house. John was not happy about that, but it was made clear that that was just until after the ceremony. Since Kathleen and Craig would be off on their honeymoon after the dance, John and Jane were welcome to use his house. Until the ceremony, John, Sam, and Craig would be in Craig's house. Damon would stay in his parent's house. All other guests were placed in various family's homes. The ceremony would not take place until early evening. All took advantage of the time to get a little more rest - except John. He could not feel calm without Jane to sleep by his side, but he stayed quiet for the others.

 

About two hours before the ceremony was about to begin, preparations began. Elders came to the homes of the participants. They showed Kathleen's family how to wear their Mohawk clothing. John had to remember they were going to touch him like Jane had when they tried on his outfit in the atrium. He fought to remain calm, and was respectful.

 

It was time.

 

~~~~~

 

All were properly dressed for the ceremony. Craig was adorned in a black kilt with a black breech-cloth underneath. His leggings were deer skin, and aged and fringed. His shirt was deep turquoise broad cloth. Kathleen was in colors similar to those she wore for her other ceremony. Her over dress was deep purple/blue, beautifully beaded. Her skirt was black and her leggings as well. All those on the reservation were in attendance. Before she entered the Longhouse, Kathleen was handed her wedding basket. It was an integral part of this ceremony. Her basket contained material and clothing to symbolize her commitment to her husband and any future children that she will mend and keep clean for her family. It was unlikely they would have more children together, but the symbolism was powerful and important.

 

Craig's basket contained the wedding cake. It was a white corn bread with strawberries. It was given as a commitment to provide food for his wife and any children.

 

The two of them stepped into the Longhouse now. There was a wooden bench placed in the middle of the floor for the couple and their mother's to sit. Since neither mother was living, others were chosen to take their places. Craig's aunt sat to his side, and Jane sat to Kathleen's side. She was as close to blood as Kathleen had in a woman.

 

The member of the Council of Chiefs who had counseled them and helped them set the date for this ceremony was chosen to conduct the marriage. The official opening of the ceremony was the reading of the Thanksgiving Address while holding the nations wampum.

 

**[center][b]THE THANKSGIVING ADDRESS**

 

**ONKWEHSHON:A[/b]** _(The People)._

May we now gather our minds as one and give one another greetings and thanks that we are gathered here in good health and in peace.

 

All assembled agreed.

 

 **[b]IETHINISTENHA ONHWENTSIA[/b]** _(Mother Earth)._

May we now gather our minds together as one and greet and give our thanks to our mother earth for all that she gives us so we may live.

 

 **[b]OHNEKASHON:A[/b]** _(The Water)._

May we now gather our minds together as one and turn to the spirit of the waters of the world, With oneness of mind, we now send our thanks to the waters of the world for quenching our thirst and purifying our lives.

 

 **[b]KARIOTA’SHON:’A[/b]** _(Animal Life)._

May we now gather our minds as one and give our words of greetings and thanks to the animals.

 

**[b]OKWIRE’SHON:’A[/b]** _(Trees of the Forest)._

May we now gather our minds together as one and give greetings and thanks to the trees of the forest for the fruits we eat, for the shade in summer, and for the shelter of our homes.

 

**[b]OTSI’TEN’OKON:’A[/b]** _(Bird Life)._

The Creator instructed the birds to sing upon the arrival of each new day, and to sing so that all life will not know boredom. With one mind we now greet and thank the bird life.

 

 **[b]RATIWE:RAS[/b]** _(Grandfather Thunders)._

The Creator instructed the grandfather thunders to put fresh water the rivers, lakes, and springs to quench the thirst of life. So with one mind we give our greetings and thanks to our grandfathers.

 

 **[b]EHTSITEWAHTSI:’A KIEHKEHNEKHA KARAHKWA[/b]** _(Our Eldest Brother The Sun)._

We are the younger siblings and our brother sun shines the light so we may see and radiates warmth that all life may grow. We now with one mind give greetings and thanks to our eldest brother the sun.

 

 **[b]IETHIHSOTHA AHSONTHENHKA KARAHKWA[/b]** _(Our Grandmother The Moon)._

Our Creator placed her in charge of the birth of all things and made her leader of all female life. All babies of all nations are born by her orchestration. May we now gather our minds into one and send our greetings and our thanksgiving to our grandmother the moon.

 

 **[b]SHONKWAIA”TISON[/b]** _(Our Creator)._

Our Creator made all of life with nothing lacking. All we humans are required to do is waste no life and be grateful daily to all life. And so now we gather all our minds into one and send our greetings and our thanksgiving to our maker, our Creator.[/center]

 

This greeting now completed, it was time to beginthe speech of marriage. He first addressed the bride's mother, or in this case, Jane.

 

_[i]"What is your daughter's name?"[/i]_

[center]"Kathleen Clayton."[/center]

_[i]"What clan does your daughter belong to?" [/i]_

[center]"The Clayton clan of Ireland."[/center]

_[i]"Do you think that your daughter is capable to fulfill the responsibility of marriage?"[/i]_

[center]"I do."[/center]

_[i]"Are you satisfied with your daughter's choice?"[/i]_

[center]"Yes, very much so."[/center]

Jane had watch the love blossom while John and Damon were away. She was sure of the love she saw between them. She saw the kind of love she shared with John in them, and it made her quite proud to be Kathleen's representative in this.

_[i]"If some hard times come, and your daughter and her husband become homeless, would you open your home to them and any children until they are able to get back on their feet?"[/i]_

[center]"I will."[/center]

Craig's aunt was now asked questions of him.

_[i"What is your son's name?"[/i]_

[center]"Craig Runs With Thunder."[/center]

_[i]"What clan does your son belong to?" [/i]_

[center]"He is an Akwesasne Mohawk."[/center]

_[i]"Do you think that your son is capable to fulfill the responsibility of marriage?"[/i]_

[center]"I do."[/center]

_[i]"Are you satisfied with your son's choice?"[/i]_

[center]"Yes."[/center]

_[i]"If some hard times come, and your daughter and her husband become homeless, would you open your home to them and any children until they are able to get back on their feet?"[/i]_

[center]"Without hesitation."[/center]

Kathleen was now asked these questions:

_[i]"Are you prepared to be the wife of the man that you have chosen for the rest of your life?"[/i]_

[center]"I am."[/center]

_[i]"Will you prepare food for your husband and children?"[/i]_

[center]"I will."[/center]

_[i]"Will you care for your husband if he becomes ill?"[/i]_

[center]"Yes."[/center]

_[i]"When it is dinner time and your children are out playing with other children, you are to call ALL the children in to eat and if they have soiled faces you will wash their faces as if they all were your children. Do you accept this responsibility?"[/i]_

[center]"I do, gladly."[/center]

_[i]"As a wife and mother it's your responsibility to prepare and bring your children to all ceremonies. "[/i]_

Here Kathleen hesitated. She would not be around to do such things.

[center]"I will do my best."[/center]

_[i]"Also marriage is a partnership and no one has the authority over the other, you don't dominate your husband nor does he dominate you.[/i]_

Now it was Craig's turn.

_[i]"Are you prepared to be the husband of the woman that you have chosen for the rest of your life?"[/i]_

[center]"Yes."[/center]

_[i]"Will you prepare food for your wife and children?"[/i]_

[center]"I will."[/center]

_[i]"Will you care for your wife if she becomes ill?"[/i]_

[center]"Yes."[/center]

_[i]"When it is dinner time and your children are out playing with other children, you are to call ALL the children in to eat and if they have soiled faces you will wash their faces as if they all were your children. Do you accept this responsibility?"[/i]_

[center]"I do."[/center]

_[i]"As a husband and father it's your responsibility to prepare and bring your children to all ceremonies. "[/i]_

[center]"I will endeavor to do so."[/center]

_[i]"Also marriage is a partnership and no one has the authority over the other, you don't dominate your wife nor does she dominate you.[/i]_

 

Kathleen and Craig now stood. They exchanged their baskets as a symbol of their commitment and the acceptance of marriage.

"Craig, all that I have promised to you, I will keep. I will do all I can to maintain an honest, open relationship, and I will love you, and try to make up for all the years we were not permitted to share."

"Kathleen, I accept all the responsibilities that come with marriage. I will do all I can to make your life with me one of joy and happiness. I will be sad with you through the dark times and overjoyed with you in the good times. I will keep all the promises I have made this day."

The council member now handed the wampum to Kathleen and then to Craig to pledge the creator that they accept the responsibilities of marriage. They were now married. Both breathed a sigh, and smiled as they turned to look at each other. The Chiefs and the mothers, in this case Craig's aunt and Jane, now stood before the couple. They passed the wampum to each individual, and they would speak words of encouragement and advice to the now married couple.

"Now that you are finally together, I know all the dark shadows that once filled your lives will turn to blue skies," Craig's Aunt Mary said as she patted their entwined hands.

"Congratulations Kathleen. I am so happy for both of you," Jane effused, her face virtually glowing. She hugged them both and moved to make room for the next person to offer words to the couple.

Now it was time for everyone in attendance to shake hands with the couple, and the time for all to offer their words of encouragement. The processional was lengthy, as most of those who lived on the Akwesasne reservation had attended, and were eager to offer their wisdom to Craig, who they were sure was a confirmed bachelor. They all wanted a close look at the woman who took this guy off the market.

John and Jane, as Kathleen's family, took the wedding cake and cut it into small pieces so that the bride and groom could give each person in attendance some. The bench in the center of the Longhouse was cleared out of the way so that all assembled could take part in the Great Feather Dance. It was done to honor the Creator. . Craig's Aunt Mary wished to say a few words before the dance began.

"We are a matriarchal Society. Even our language honors the women. It is a female language. When we dance, the men dance on the outside of the circle. The inside of the circle is to honor the women. When you dance to the ceremonial sounds of the Earth you are tickling Mother Earth, and giving her joy for all the things she gives us to stay alive.

~Lorraine Canoe~ Mohawk"

The group broke into men and women. Craig led the men as they moved in a circle, and Kathleen led the women in their own circle. The Great Feather Dance was to sanction the marriage.

It was now time for the wedding feast. The benches were placed lining the walls as tables were brought in, then another row of benches was placed on the other side of the tables. The whole room was filled with tables and benches, and the food was soon to follow. They ate, they drank -though nothing alcoholic, for that is strictly forbidden. Once she was almost too full to move, it was time to open the gifts and thank the people for their gifts. Kathleen's arm felt like it was about to fall off as she opened the final package. The tag read "for enduring love, from you Mohawk family." Kathleen held up what was in the wrappings, and then looked to Craig to tell her what she had. To Kathleen it looked like one of those high school geometry diagrams - one large circle containing two overlapping circles within it. It was adorned with twin feathers and tassels with beads - all beautifully white in color, save for the grey-brown speckles on the feathers.

"It is the circle of unity. It's represents the never-ending circle of life. It is covered in white deerskin to signify the purity of marriage," Craig informed Kathleen as she smiled and requested clarification under her breath. Kathleen nodded graciously.

"Thank-you all so much," Kathleen said, using her projecting voice.

"Yes, your gifts are all beautiful, and will ensure our bond for a lifetime."

Craig was so good at heartfelt statements. Kathleen was almost jealous sometimes, but right now, she was as proud as she could be. They were both feeling weary after all this, but this night was far from over. There would be a social dance during which Kathleen and Craig would be expected to lead every dance. It would not start for two hours, and she hoped she would be allowed to at least lie down for part of that time.

 

~~~~~

 

All those who traveled to this wedding were given the time to relax before the social dance. It would go on long into the night, and all knew the trip had been arduous. Kathleen napped in the arms of her husband, and Jane napped in John's arms. Nicky and Damon still stayed to separate rooms, not wishing to be checked on constantly.

 

After resting up, they all returned to the Longhouse. Craig and Kathleen started every dance, but did not dance all of every song. But for the first hour, they were not off the dance floor. Jane had John out on the dance floor as well. He had come to love dancing because it was a way to touch Jane in public that she would not object to. Even Edgar and Tinka took to the floor to show they still had it.

 

After a requisite appearance, Damon and Nicky slipped away from the festivities and went to his house.

 

"Finally, alone," Nicky sighed as she pulled Damon into her arms.

 

"It was a good ceremony," Damon commented.

 

"Yes, but it's very long. Speaking of which, how long will they still be occupied?"

 

"The dance will go on long into the night."

 

"Good," Nicky asserted, kissing Damon.

 

She engulfed his mouth, and brushed her body against his as she pulled him up the stairs.

 

"Do you have what we need?" Nicky whispered, locking her eyes on Damon.

 

"Your little bag is in my pack, upstairs."

 

"Good," Nicky said again.

 

She turned and dashed up the stairs, Damon right on her heels.

 

Nicky reverently removed each piece of her Mohawk garb until she stood in just her under garments. A matched set of deep gray satin. They were so dark against her pale skin. Nicky spread out on Damon's bed, and looked seductively at him. He stripped down to his briefs and moved slowly toward her.

 

"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked, deeply concerned.

 

"Damon, I've been on birth control since before you left with John. I didn't do that just so we could kiss. I'm ready if you are."

 

"This is a big step. I guess I just don't want to hurt you, or rush you. Do you even know how to put a condom on?"

 

"In theory. Why don't we see how things go. I'm thinking there's a lot between now and when we'll need that."

 

Nicky began kissing Damon until he couldn't breathe. They touched and caressed for nearly half an hour before it became more. Nicky was on fire. She undid her bra and sucked in a breath as his mouth explored her breasts. He paused, thinking about what they were about to do.

 

"It's OK," Nicky whispered, touching his face and stroking her arms over his shoulders and down his back.

 

"I love you Damon. While you were away, all I could think about was how it would be for us to be together. We are both adults now. We have taken all the precautions."

 

"I know, and I love you too. Even John thinks we belong together, and he would not say so if he didn't believe it was so. But I am not going back to New York with you after the wedding celebration is over. I don't want to do this and then have you worry that…"

 

"Shhh, Damon, I know you'll be back when college starts. I know you so well now. You would never take advantage like that."

 

Her legs split apart and wrapped around his hips. She felt him becoming increasingly aroused, and they both knew the time was coming where they would have to decide if they truly were ready to be intimate. Damon pulled back and looked Nicky in the eyes. She nodded at him.

 

They both stood. Nicky slipped her underwear off and stepped out of them. She shivered slightly, nervous. Damon managed to remove his briefs around his erection. He took a condom from the small bag, and tore open the wrapper.

 

"Let me," Nicky gently whispered.

 

She slipped the thin latex on him and stepped back again. He was almost shaking. Nicky took his hand and brought him to the bed. She pressed herself to him.

 

"I'm ready Damon. This just feels right."

 

Damon picked Nicky up by the hips, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. His hands caressed the small of her back. Damon lay her down on her back on the bed. She was all long limbs. She spread her legs wide apart, and braced herself. He supported his body over her and slowly pushed forward.

 

"Ohh, ow," Nicky cried as he pushed through.

 

She clenched her teeth and almost hurt him with her fingernails.

 

"You OK?" he asked.

 

"I thought it would hurt more. It actually feels kinda good now."

 

She pushed up a bit and moaned. Damon started moving. Muscles and nerves played together, and the pair of bodies writhed with new found pleasure. Nicky's back arched as Damon could not stop moving through her. Nicky clonked her head on the headboard which brought a tear to her eye, but she didn't want Damon to stop so she just bit her lip and lost the pain in the pleasure taking place elsewhere. Their young, lithe bodies bent and twisted and moved together, each learning with each second how the body of the other was feeling. The passion built higher and higher. Both were amazed when the climax hit, totally unprepared for the force or the feeling. They were twirling in space while not moving at all. For a bit, they just lay there, until their minds and bodies again seemed to find where they were. They needed to catch their breaths, regain their senses. When they did move, Nicky saw the mess they had made of the bed.

 

"Damn, how do we clean this up? If we leave it your parents will know."

 

"Shh, Nicky. I'll take care of this, you make sure you're alright. Why don't you go to the bathroom and get clean. I'll take care of the bed. We have enough time. No one will be coming back here for several hours."

 

Damon approached Nicky as she stood next to the bed. He gently grasped her arms above the elbows and pulled her in.

 

"I love you. And you were right. This was amazing. Thank-you for sharing this with me."

 

Nicky smiled, and leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

 

"There's no one else I would want to have as my first. You made this perfect."

 

"We could even go again, if you're up to it."

 

"Something in that tone tells me you liked this. So did I," Nicky said, actually very happy to have this milestone over and done with. She had waited plenty long before taking this step, and she was in love with Damon. That was what was important. She had done this out of love and the want to share that feeling with Damon. Nicky went into the bathroom and cleaned herself with a wash cloth. All in all, she felt fine. There was the feeling that something had changed though. She wondered if it was in her mind or if she could really feel the difference in her body after Damon had opened her in this way.

 

~~~~~

 

Damon washed all his bedding, and replaced it on the bed, but in the meantime, he and Nicky found themselves unable to resist another go. It went smoothly, as Nicky took the top this time, bucking on top of him as this time she enjoyed it all the more. She thought she had experienced the greatest pleasure possible the first time, but she thought she was having a heart attack as her first orgasm wracked her body. She couldn't breath and began gasping. Her whole body seemed to turn pink and she was sweating.

 

"Are you OK?" Damon worried.

 

"I don't know," Nicky panted, unable to move off his body.

 

As her breathing calmed and the muscles relaxed, she sat back on her heals.

 

"Wow."

 

"What happened to you? Was it my fault? Did I hurt you?"

 

"No, Damon. I've read about women who go to the hospital thinking they are having a heart attack only to be told it was their first orgasm. I think that's what just happened to me."

 

Her breath was still ragged, but she forced a smile on her face, pleased to inform him of what he had been able to do for her.

 

"I thought you were going to keel over right in the middle."

 

"So did I," she smirked.

 

Both knew they would want to keep doing this. But once the room, and Damon and Nicky, were put back to order, they returned to the dance. They loved knowing what only they could know, and both wished to steer clear of John and his all-knowing nose. With all the people in the Longhouse, perhaps the scent of their activities would just blend into the room, and not be detectable as theirs.

 

~~~~~

 

After many hours, John wished to abscond with Jane to begin her promised night to remember. Just before John had whisked Jane off, she asked a favor - Sam had orders to shoot should he find Damon making too fast a move on Nicky. Sam laughed it off, but noted a serious look in her eye.

 

"Why can't you keep an eye on her yourself?"

 

His question was asked when John scooped her into his arms and walked away with her.

 

"Oh, I get it - too busy," Sam yelled after them.

 

John and Jane smirked, and smoldered when they looked to each other. They may not have been the ones to get married, but they were up for the honeymoon anyway.

 

Sam found the young couple and played the heavy, standing between them, telling them what Jane had authorized him to do to them should they decide to take advantage of this lack of supervision. Nicky almost laughed out loud, but knew that would make Sam wonder why the thought was so funny. Sam left them after making sure they understood he was watching. They were happy that it was Sam, and not John, watching them. They wanted to live to see another day, and what Jane didn't know, couldn't hurt them. Damon and Nicky went back to the dance floor, and kept in sight until they left the dance separately, Damon going with his parents.

 

~~~~~

 

John and Jane made their way to Craig's house. John took her to the small bedroom he had been given earlier and placed her back on her feet. Jane treated her man to a striptease, seductively wriggling out of her Mohawk attire after getting John to sit on the foot of the bed. Down to very little coverage, Jane approached John and began to strip him as well. Once he was down to just the breechcloth, Jane jumped at him, laying him flat on the bed. He grabbed the long braids that her hair had been gathered into as she was dressed for the ceremony and tugged Jane into a kiss. She circled her arms around the top of his head, her elbows pinning his shoulders down.

 

Over the next few hours, Jane learned the definition of flexibility and just how much of it she had. It wasn't the atrium, but they made due. Jane let him be as wild as he wanted to be this night, and she released her wild side as well, wanting to show John she could give as good as she got. Neither fought it when John took his bride to be as if they were animals in the jungle. The tall headboard gave Jane a way to steady herself as they stood on the bed, John pounding into her from behind, almost lifting her off her feet as they got carried away. John let out a growling howl, proclaiming to the whole world that he had mated with his she, and it would be so until the end of life came.

 

~~~~~

 

In the mid morning, all watched while shielding their eyes as the Greystoke chopper landed in an open space, prepared to take the newlyweds away for the long awaited honeymoon. They had spent many nights together since their reunion, but had decided not to have sex until they were at last married. The honeymoon suite awaited them in one of the finest Niagara Falls hotels on the Canadian side.

 

~~~~~

 

Edgar and Tinka hosted a late lunch at their house for John and Jane and Nicky and Damon and Sam, and all the others who came as part of Kathleen's party from New York.

 

"I think I'm still full from the wedding feast," Jane proclaimed when she saw the spread of food on the long table.

 

"Even after last night?" John wondered aloud.

 

Jane blushed and she could detect a good-humored smirk on all those in the room. John and Jane's romance was legendary among Kathleen's friends, and the Mohawks of the Akwesasne reservation had quickly learned of the powerful love these two shared.

 

"Damon," Tinka raised her voice to be heard over the din, "Why don't you show Nicky your room. Dinner won't be for an hour, but she will be leaving after, so take a little time to yourselves."

 

Damon obediently nodded in agreement and the two youngsters of the group made themselves scarce.

 

"Does your mom know?" Nicky asked, nervous about others learning what they did the night before.

 

"No, or she would never have sent us up here together. She knows it will be hard for us to be so far apart until school starts in the fall."

 

"It will, you know…be hard that is. But I'm still glad about last night. It gives me a lot to think about and remember until you come back to New York."

 

Damon was starting to nibble on Nicky's neck. He kissed down her spine as far as the low back of her halter top dress allowed.

 

"Damon, the house is full of people downstairs, including my sister and John."

 

"And they are all busily making small talk and eating finger foods from little trays."

 

His hands were on her hips with his fingers wrapping around to the front, girdling her pelvis, making her body tingle. She found herself leaning into him, letting his lips excite her skin with kisses while his hands slowly moved up her body until he cupped her breasts. The dress Nicky had didn't allow for a bra, and his hands made her nipples react.

 

"It's OK."

 

"Oh, Damon, yes."

 

Nicky slipped the neck strap of her dress over her head allowing Damon's hands skin to skin contact with her breasts. Damon turned her and then knelt. As he stood again, he traced his hands up Nicky's legs and smirked as his fingers grasped the exposed flesh of her backside. She had chosen a thong for under the dress, and Damon seemed to really like that choice. She led his hands and had him help her slide the scanty thong down and off. She stepped clear of them and threw Damon a fiery glance. He retreated to quickly grab another condom and double check that the door was locked.

 

"I can't believe we're doing this with so many people downstairs," Nicky sheepishly chirped.

 

"But the thought that we could get caught makes it all the more exciting," Damon replied.

 

"So, you've become quite the daredevil, huh?"

 

"No, but I certainly think you are worth getting caught for."

 

"Get over here before your mom sounds the dinner bell."

 

Nicky hiked her skirt up and lifted one leg, wrapping it around his hip. They leaned back against the bed, and she gasped as Damon pushed into her at the same time he flicked his tongue over her nipples. By the time the meal was served downstairs, they were again fully dressed and joined the rest. Nicky's face was flushed, and both she and Damon wore big grins.

 

The meal was well received, and all ate a lot more than they were planning on. All were saddened it was almost over, but none more than Nicky and Damon. The sky was becoming overcast, and it portended a rainstorm.

 

John took Damon aside shortly before it was time to leave.

 

"You have taken Nicky as your mate."

 

"How?"

 

"The scent of your joining is on both of you - as it was last night."

 

"I…uh…she…um."

 

"You need not fear. I see how happy she is. But you must never hurt her."

 

"I won't," Damon said shaking his head side to side.

 

John grabbed Damon by both shoulders and stared into the scared blue-grey eyes.

 

"I welcome you to the family, though you are as much a part of it as I am. We have made the Porter clan part of both our clans now. When I marry Jane, you will stand with me, and when you marry Nicky, I will stand with you."

 

"You're getting married?"

 

"Yes, Jane has told me she will be my mate forever."

 

"I would be proud to stand with you. Oh, and John, it will be some time before Nicky and I will think of getting married, but it would make me proud to have you stand by my side. You are as a brother to me. I will miss you too until my return to the city."

 

When John and Damon were done speaking, Nicky made her way to Damon.

 

"What did John want?"

 

"He knows."

 

"Oh no, what did he say?"

 

"He asked me to be his best man."

 

Nicky's eyes opened wide.

 

"John's marrying my sister?"

 

"She didn't tell you yet. I get the feeling no one has been told."

 

"That's so cool."

 

Nicky thought of something. It was not really a good idea to try to take her small bag from Damon's room. There were too many people who might see.

 

"Damon, keep my little bag until you come back to the city. I won't need it without you," Nicky whispered.

 

Then it was time for them to go back to New York. Nicky and Damon had a tearful goodbye. It was only to be for a few weeks, for as soon as school began Damon and Nicky would again have each other near, but after sharing such closeness, this goodbye was difficult.

 

~~~~~

 

Once they were back on the bus for home, John and Jane settled in the back while Nicky took up the front bunk all alone. She missed Damon already. It was only a few hours ago - OK, it was 15 hours and, as Nicky checked her watch, 23 minutes since she and Damon were on his bed, entwined in each other, taking each other's virginity. And only two hours and a few minutes since they last engaged each other, taking the chance that no one in that house full of people would interrupt them. Her body clenched just at the thought.

 

Nicky was on her stomach, sweatshirt balled up under her head. She felt as gloomy as the weather that had moved in as they made the way back to New York City. There was a persistent drizzle falling from a grey sky. Even the few leaves that had started the color show of Autumn didn't brighten the outlook.

 

John had essentially been awake for three days now. There was little sleeping done the night of the second wedding. After the long night of dancing, an equally long night of romancing had followed. The gentle rocking of the bus had seen fit to lull the lord of the jungle to sleep. He looked peaceful and content.

 

Jane decided to go check on Nicky. She had noticed how hard saying goodbye to Damon had been on her sister.

 

"Nicky, you awake?" Jane quietly asked.

 

"Yup."

 

"You're thinking about Damon, aren't you?"

 

"Uh huh."

 

Jane smiled.

 

"You'll see him again in a few weeks."

 

"I know."

 

Each word from Nicky sounded sadder than the last.

 

"OK, scootch yer butt over. You need some serious cheering up."

 

Nicky sat and pulled her feet under her, but refused to look up into Jane's face.

 

"It will all be OK, sweetie."

 

"I need you to be my sister right now, not my mom."

 

"OK, Nick, what can you sister do for you?"

 

Nicky wasn't sure if she should tell Jane what was really on her mind, and Jane could see the hesitation in her sister.

 

"Nicky, talk to me."

 

Nicky decided to confide in Jane about her first time with Damon. She hoped Jane could provide a 'girlfriend' perspective on all she was feeling right now.

 

"Before you get mad, don't. It was what we both wanted, and don't take it out on Sam, we had already done it by the time you put him on guard duty."

 

"Oh, my god - you did it, didn't you?"

 

"Please don't be mad."

 

"I'm not mad," Jane said with a calm tone and warm visage. "Are you alright with everything?"

 

"Yeah, I'm fine."

 

Nicky was blushing bright red.

 

"But…I'm scared and excited, and every time I think about it, I feel a shiver. Is this how I should feel? Is it normal?"

 

Jane pulled Nicky across her lap and hugged her tight. Nicky was almost in tears as all the emotions spilled out. After sitting and rocking Nicky in her arms for a while, she gave her answer.

 

"Sounds about right…Nicky, you love him, right? That's so much better than where I was my first time. Sometimes I'm sorry I didn't wait to be in love first. It's a big step, and it changes everything. So…how was it? If you want to talk about."

 

"It…was nice."

 

"Nice?"

 

"Yeah. I thought it would really hurt, but…it was OK"

 

"I'm glad, I guess. I'm glad you feel you can talk to me about this."

 

"But don't expect me to tell you every detail."

 

"I wouldn't think of it…but if you need any advice."

 

"I know where to come."

 

They smiled and embraced, and then Jane let go of her sister, and they just leaned back against the wall. They looked at each other at the same time and began laughing. Jane put an arm around her sister and nodded to her. It would be OK.

 

"So, you're marrying John - it's about time," Nicky said as she and her sister settled down on the bunk.

 

Jane cracked a wide smile, lightly tickling Nicky.

 

"How'd you find out? We haven't told anyone."

 

"John told Damon before we left. He asked him to be the best man."

 

"What do mean it's about time?" Jane said, finally realizing the shot her sister took.

 

"You two were meant to be from day one. I'm glad you're ready to believe it. But you gotta admit, it took you a while."

 

"How was I supposed to know I'd be swept off my feet by the lord of the jungle. Or that he'd be the most perfect man."

 

"And that he was able to crow bar open your closed heart."

 

"You…" Jane said in shock. She tickled her sister again, this time not relenting until Nicky called out "uncle".

 

Somewhere along the way, they became best friends as well as sisters. John had been right from the start. He was meant for Jane, and Damon was Nicky's Tarzan.

 

On the other bunk, John dreamed. Now that the proposal had been accepted, John couldn't wait until the day he married Jane. Jane was his mate, and would be his wife, and they would fill the house with their offspring. The thought of mating until they made a child made John shift in his sleep. He awoke and found himself alone in the back of the bus. He walked to the front and saw the Porter sisters. They held each other as they slept. He smiled. He had Jane. Nicky had Damon. Kathleen had Craig. He had the one thing he always wanted - a big happy family to surround him with love and for him to love in return.

 

 

*****


End file.
